Semiconductor device

ABSTRACT

The stability of a step of processing a wiring formed using copper, aluminum, gold, silver, molybdenum, or the like is increased. Moreover, the concentration of impurities in a semiconductor film is reduced. Moreover, the electrical characteristics of a semiconductor device are improved. In a transistor including an oxide semiconductor film, an oxide film in contact with the oxide semiconductor film, and a pair of conductive films being in contact with the oxide film and including copper, aluminum, gold, silver, molybdenum, or the like, the oxide film has a plurality of crystal parts and has c-axis alignment in the crystal parts, and the c-axes are aligned in a direction parallel to a normal vector of a top surface of the oxide semiconductor film or the oxide film.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a semiconductor device including atransistor and a manufacturing method thereof.

2. Description of the Related Art

Transistors used for most flat panel displays typified by a liquidcrystal display device or a light-emitting display device are formedusing a silicon semiconductor such as amorphous silicon, single crystalsilicon, or polycrystalline silicon provided over a glass substrate.Further, such a transistor employing such a silicon semiconductor isused in integrated circuits (ICs) and the like.

In recent years, attention has been drawn to a technique in which,instead of a silicon semiconductor, a metal oxide exhibitingsemiconductor characteristics is used in transistors. Note that in thisspecification, a metal oxide exhibiting semiconductor characteristics isreferred to as an oxide semiconductor.

For example, such a technique is disclosed that a transistor ismanufactured using zinc oxide or an In—Ga—Zn-based oxide as an oxidesemiconductor and the transistor is used as a switching element or thelike in a pixel of a display device (see Patent Documents 1 and 2).

Further, in accordance with increasing size and increasing definition ofa flat panel display, the driving frequency is increased and theresistance and the parasitic capacitance of a wiring are increased, sothat wiring delay occurs. In order to inhibit the wiring delay, atechnique for forming a wiring using copper has been studied (PatentDocument 3).

REFERENCE Patent Document

[Patent Document 1] Japanese Published Patent Application No.2007-123861

[Patent Document 2] Japanese Published Patent Application No.2007-096055

[Patent Document 3] Japanese Published Patent Application No.2004-133422

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

However, there are problems in that copper, aluminum, gold, silver,molybdenum, or the like, which is a constituent element of the wiring,is difficult to process, and they are diffused in an oxide semiconductorfilm in the course of the processing.

Copper, aluminum, gold, silver, molybdenum, or the like, which is aconstituent element of the wiring, is one of impurities causing poorelectrical characteristics of a transistor. Therefore, there is aproblem in that mixing of the impurities into an oxide semiconductorfilm reduces the resistance of the oxide semiconductor film and theamount of change in electrical characteristics, typically in thresholdvoltage, of the transistor is increased by change over time or a stresstest.

Thus, an object of one embodiment of the present invention is toincrease the stability of a step of processing a wiring formed usingcopper, aluminum, gold, silver, molybdenum, or the like. Another objectof one embodiment of the present invention is to reduce theconcentration of impurities in an oxide semiconductor film. Anotherobject of one embodiment of the present invention is to improveelectrical characteristics of a semiconductor device. Another object ofone embodiment of the present invention is to improve the reliability ofa semiconductor device. Another object of one embodiment of the presentinvention is to realize high speed operation of a semiconductor device.Another object of one embodiment of the present invention is to realizereduction in power consumption of a semiconductor device. Another objectof one embodiment of the present invention is to realize a semiconductordevice having excellent yield. In one embodiment of the presentinvention, there is no need to achieve all the objects.

In one embodiment of the present invention, in a transistor including anoxide semiconductor film, an oxide film in contact with the oxidesemiconductor film, a pair of conductive films being in contact with theoxide film and including copper, aluminum, gold, silver, molybdenum, orthe like, the oxide film has a plurality of crystal parts and has c-axisalignment in the crystal parts, and the c-axes are aligned in adirection parallel to a normal vector of a top surface of the oxidesemiconductor film or the oxide film. The oxide film which includes theplurality of crystal parts and has c-axis alignment in the plurality ofcrystal parts, and in which the c-axes are aligned in a directionparallel to the normal vector of a top surface of the oxidesemiconductor film or the oxide film is provided between the oxidesemiconductor film and the pair of conductive films, whereby transfer ofa metal element included in the pair of conductive films, typically,copper, aluminum, gold, silver, molybdenum, or the like, to the oxidesemiconductor film can be prevented. As a result, in the oxidesemiconductor film, copper, aluminum, gold, silver, molybdenum, or thelike can be reduced.

One embodiment of the present invention is a semiconductor deviceincluding a transistor including an oxide semiconductor film, an oxidefilm in contact with the oxide semiconductor film, a pair of conductivefilms being in contact with the oxide film and including copper,aluminum, gold, silver, or molybdenum, a gate insulating film in contactwith the oxide semiconductor film or the oxide film, and a gateelectrode overlapping with the oxide semiconductor film and the oxidefilm with the gate insulating film provided between the gate electrodeand the oxide semiconductor layer and between the gate electrode and theoxide film. The oxide film has a plurality of crystal parts and hasc-axis alignment in the crystal parts. The c-axes are aligned in adirection parallel to a normal vector of a top surface of the oxidesemiconductor film or the oxide film.

In the plurality of crystal parts of the oxide film, the directions ofa-axes and b-axes are irregular. The pair of conductive films may have asingle-layer structure. Alternatively, the pair of conductive films mayhave a stacked-layer structure. In the case where the pair of conductivefilms has a stacked-layer structure, at least a film in contact with theoxide film includes copper, aluminum, gold, silver, or molybdenum.

In the case where the transistor is a bottom-gate transistor, the gateinsulating film, the oxide semiconductor film, and the oxide film areprovided between the gate electrode and the pair of conductive films inthis order, and the gate insulating film includes an oxide insulatingfilm in contact with a surface of the oxide semiconductor film oppositeto a surface in contact with the oxide film and a nitride insulatingfilm in contact with the gate electrode and the oxide insulating film.

In the case where the transistor is a top-gate transistor, the oxidefilm, the pair of conductive films, and the gate insulating film areprovided between the oxide semiconductor film and the gate electrode inthis order, the oxide semiconductor film is in contact with a baseinsulating film, and the base insulating film includes an oxideinsulating film in contact with a surface of the oxide semiconductorfilm opposite to a surface in contact with the oxide film and a nitrideinsulating film in contact with the oxide insulating film.

Moreover, a protective film may be provided on surfaces opposite tosurfaces in contact with the oxide film of the pair of conductive films.

The protective film is a nitride insulating film, and may be formed of,typically, silicon nitride, silicon nitride oxide, aluminum nitride, oraluminum nitride oxide.

Alternatively, the protective film is a light-transmitting conductivefilm and may be formed of, typically, indium tin oxide, indium oxidecontaining tungsten oxide, indium zinc oxide containing tungsten oxide,indium oxide containing titanium oxide, indium tin oxide containingtitanium oxide, indium zinc oxide, or indium tin oxide containingsilicon oxide.

Alternatively, the protective film is an oxide film containing In, Ga,or Zn, and is formed of, typically, In—Ga oxide, In—Zn oxide, or anIn-M-Zn oxide (M is Ga, Y, Zr, La, Ce, or Nd).

According to one embodiment of the present invention, the stability of astep of processing a wiring formed using copper, aluminum, gold, silver,molybdenum, or the like can be increased. Further, according to oneembodiment of the present invention, in a semiconductor device or thelike including an oxide semiconductor film, the concentration ofimpurities in the oxide semiconductor film can be reduced. Further,according to one embodiment of the present invention, in a semiconductordevice including an oxide semiconductor film, electrical characteristicscan be improved. Further, according to one embodiment of the presentinvention, in a semiconductor device including an oxide semiconductorfilm, the reliability can be improved. Further, according to oneembodiment of the present invention, high speed operation of asemiconductor device can be realized. Further, according to oneembodiment of the present invention, reduction in power consumption of asemiconductor device can be realized. Further, according to oneembodiment of the present invention, a semiconductor device havingexcellent productivity can be realized.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the accompanying drawings:

FIGS. 1A to 1C are a top view and cross-sectional views illustrating oneembodiment of a transistor;

FIGS. 2A to 2E are cross-sectional views illustrating one embodiment ofa method for manufacturing a transistor;

FIGS. 3A and 3B each show a band structure of a transistor;

FIG. 4 shows a calculation model of IGZO (111);

FIGS. 5A and 5B show a diffusion path and an activation barrier for Cu;

FIGS. 6A and 6B show a diffusion path and an activation barrier for Cu;

FIGS. 7A and 7B show a diffusion path and an activation barrier for Cu;

FIGS. 8A and 8B show a diffusion path and an activation barrier for Cu;

FIG. 9 shows an activation barrier for Cu;

FIG. 10 shows a calculation model of ZnO;

FIGS. 11A to 11C show a diffusion path and an activation barrier for Cu;

FIGS. 12A to 12C show a diffusion path and an activation barrier for Cu;

FIG. 13 shows an activation barrier for Cu;

FIGS. 14A and 14B are cross-sectional views each illustrating oneembodiment of a transistor;

FIG. 15 is a cross-sectional view illustrating one embodiment of atransistor.

FIGS. 16A to 16C are a top view and cross-sectional views illustratingone embodiment of a transistor;

FIGS. 17A to 17D are cross-sectional views illustrating one embodimentof a method for manufacturing a transistor;

FIGS. 18A to 18C are a block diagram and circuit diagrams illustratingone embodiment of a semiconductor device;

FIG. 19 is a top view illustrating one embodiment of a semiconductordevice;

FIG. 20 is a cross-sectional view illustrating one embodiment of asemiconductor device;

FIGS. 21A to 21C are cross-sectional views illustrating one embodimentof a method for manufacturing a semiconductor device;

FIGS. 22A to 22C are cross-sectionals views illustrating one embodimentof a method for manufacturing a semiconductor device;

FIGS. 23A to 23C are cross-sectionals views illustrating one embodimentof a method for manufacturing a semiconductor device;

FIGS. 24A and 24B are cross-sectionals views illustrating one embodimentof a method for manufacturing a semiconductor device;

FIGS. 25A and 25B are cross-sectionals views illustrating one embodimentof a method for manufacturing a semiconductor device;

FIGS. 26A to 26C are cross-sectionals views illustrating one embodimentof a method for manufacturing a semiconductor device;

FIG. 27 shows nanobeam electron diffraction patterns of an oxidesemiconductor;

FIGS. 28A and 28B show results of impurity analysis and results of XRDanalysis of an oxide semiconductor;

FIGS. 29A and 29B show results of impurity analysis and results of XRDanalysis of an oxide semiconductor;

FIGS. 30A and 30B show results of impurity analysis and results of XRDanalysis of an oxide semiconductor;

FIGS. 31A and 31B show results of impurity analysis and results of XRDanalysis of an oxide semiconductor;

FIGS. 32A and 32B are cross-sectional views each illustrating oneembodiment of a transistor; and

FIGS. 33A and 33B are cross-sectional views each illustrating oneembodiment of a transistor.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detailwith reference to the drawings. Note that the present invention is notlimited to the following description, and it is easily understood bythose skilled in the art that the mode and details can be variouslychanged without departing from the spirit and scope of the presentinvention. Therefore, the present invention should not be construed asbeing limited to the description in the following embodiments and anexample. In addition, in the following embodiments and an example, thesame portions or portions having similar functions are denoted by thesame reference numerals or the same hatching patterns in differentdrawings, and description thereof will not be repeated.

Note that in each drawing described in this specification, the size, thefilm thickness, or the region of each component is exaggerated forclarity in some cases. Therefore, embodiments of the present inventionare not limited to such a scale.

In addition, terms such as “first”, “second”, and “third” in thisspecification are used in order to avoid confusion among components, andthe terms do not limit the components numerically. Therefore, forexample, the term “first” can be replaced with the term “second”,“third”, or the like as appropriate.

Functions of a “source” and a “drain” are sometimes replaced with eachother when the direction of current flow is changed in circuitoperation, for example. Therefore, the terms “source” and “drain” can beused to denote the drain and the source, respectively, in thisspecification.

Note that a voltage refers to a difference between potentials of twopoints, and a potential refers to electrostatic energy (electricpotential energy) of a unit charge at a given point in an electrostaticfield. Note that in general, a difference between a potential of onepoint and a reference potential (e.g., a ground potential) is merelycalled a potential or a voltage, and a potential and a voltage are usedas synonymous words in many cases. Thus, in this specification, apotential may be rephrased as a voltage and a voltage may be rephrasedas a potential unless otherwise specified.

In this specification, in the case where an etching step is performedafter a photolithography process, a mask formed in the photolithographyprocess is removed after the etching step.

Embodiment 1

In this embodiment, a semiconductor device which is one embodiment ofthe present invention and a manufacturing method thereof are describedwith reference to drawings.

In a transistor including an oxide semiconductor film, oxygen vacanciesare given as an example of a defect which leads to poor electricalcharacteristics of the transistor. For example, the threshold voltage ofa transistor including an oxide semiconductor film which contains oxygenvacancies in the film easily shifts in the negative direction, and sucha transistor tends to have normally-on characteristics. This is becauseelectric charges are generated owing to oxygen vacancies in the oxidesemiconductor film and the resistance is thus reduced. The transistorhaving normally-on characteristics causes various problems in thatmalfunction is likely to be caused when in operation and that powerconsumption is increased when not in operation. Further, there is aproblem in that the amount of change in electrical characteristics,typically in threshold voltage, of the transistor is increased by changeover time or a stress test.

One factor in generating oxygen vacancies is damage caused in amanufacturing process of a transistor. For example, when an insulatingfilm, a conductive film, or the like is formed over an oxidesemiconductor film by a plasma CVD method or a sputtering method, theoxide semiconductor film might be damaged depending on formationconditions thereof.

Further, not only oxygen vacancies but also impurities such as siliconor carbon which is a constituent element of the insulating film causepoor electrical characteristics of a transistor. In the case where atransistor is manufactured using a large substrate of the 8th generationor later, for example, a wiring is formed using a low-resistancematerial, such as copper, aluminum, gold, silver, or molybdenum toinhibit wiring delay. However, copper, aluminum, gold, silver,molybdenum, or the like which is a constituent element of the wiring isalso one of impurities causing poor electrical characteristics of atransistor. Therefore, there is a problem in that mixing of theimpurities into an oxide semiconductor film reduces the resistance ofthe oxide semiconductor film and the amount of change in electricalcharacteristics, typically in threshold voltage, of the transistor isincreased by change over time or a stress test.

Thus, an object of this embodiment is to reduce oxygen vacancies in anoxide semiconductor film having a channel region and the concentrationof impurities in the oxide semiconductor film, in a semiconductor deviceincluding a transistor having the oxide semiconductor film.

Moreover, there is a trend in a commercially available display devicetoward a larger screen, e.g., a 60-inch diagonal screen, and further,the development of a display device is aimed even at a screen size of adiagonal of 120 inches or more. Hence, a glass substrate for a displaydevice has grown in size, e.g., to the 8th generation or more. However,in the case of using a large-sized substrate, because heat treatment isperformed at high temperatures, e.g., at 450° C. or higher, anexpensive, large-sized heating apparatus is needed. Accordingly, themanufacturing cost is increased.

Further, high-temperature heat treatment causes a warp or a shrink ofthe substrate, which leads to a reduction in yield.

Thus, one object of this embodiment is to manufacture a semiconductordevice using heat treatment at a temperature which allows the use of alarge-sized substrate and using a small number of heat treatment steps.

FIGS. 1A to 1C are a top view and cross-sectional views of a transistor60 of a semiconductor device. The transistor 60 shown in FIGS. 1A to 1Cis a channel-etched transistor. FIG. 1A is a top view of the transistor60, FIG. 1B is a cross-sectional view taken along dashed-dotted line A-Bin FIG. 1A, and FIG. 1C is a cross-sectional view taken alongdashed-dotted line C-D in FIG. 1A. Note that in FIG. 1A, a substrate 11,one or more of components of the transistor 60 (e.g., a gate insulatingfilm 17), an oxide insulating film 23, an oxide insulating film 24, anitride insulating film 25, and the like are not illustrated forclarity.

The transistor 60 shown in FIGS. 1B and 1C includes a gate electrode 15provided over the substrate 11, the gate insulating film 17 over thesubstrate 11 and the gate electrode 15, a multilayer film 20 overlappingwith the gate electrode 15 with the gate insulating film 17 providedtherebetween, and a pair of conductive films serving as electrodes(hereinafter referred to as a pair of electrodes 21 and 22) in contactwith the multilayer film 20. Furthermore, a protective film 26 includingthe oxide insulating film 23, the oxide insulating film 24, and thenitride insulating film 25 is formed over the gate insulating film 17,the multilayer film 20, and the pair of electrodes 21 and 22.

In the transistor 60 described in this embodiment, the multilayer film20 includes the oxide semiconductor film 18 and the oxide film 19.Further, part of the oxide semiconductor film 18 serves as a channelregion. Furthermore, the oxide insulating film 23 is formed in contactwith the oxide film 19, and the oxide insulating film 24 is formed incontact with the oxide insulating film 23. That is, the oxide film 19 isprovided between the oxide semiconductor film 18 and the oxideinsulating film 23.

In this embodiment, the oxide film 19 is formed using a c-axis alignedcrystalline (CAAC) oxide film. The details of the CAAC oxide film willbe described later. In the CAAC oxide film, which has c-axis alignment,a grain boundary is not found and the c-axes are aligned in a directionparallel to a normal vector of a formation surface or a normal vector ofa top surface. Thus, the oxide film 19 functions as a film whichprevents transfer of a metal element included in the pair of electrodes21 and 22, for example, copper, aluminum, gold, silver, or molybdenum.Accordingly, the metal element included in the pair of electrodes 21 and22 is not easily transferred to the oxide semiconductor film 18. As aresult, the impurities in the oxide semiconductor film 18 of themultilayer film 20 can be reduced. Further, a transistor of which theelectrical characteristics are improved can be manufactured.

Other details of the transistor 60 are described below.

There is no particular limitation on a material and the like of thesubstrate 11 as long as the material has heat resistance high enough towithstand at least heat treatment performed later. For example, a glasssubstrate, a ceramic substrate, a quartz substrate, or a sapphiresubstrate may be used as the substrate 11. Alternatively, a singlecrystal semiconductor substrate or a polycrystalline semiconductorsubstrate made of silicon, silicon carbide, or the like, a compoundsemiconductor substrate made of silicon germanium or the like, an SOIsubstrate, or the like may be used. Still alternatively, any of thesesubstrates provided with a semiconductor element may be used as thesubstrate 11. In the case where a glass substrate is used as thesubstrate 11, a glass substrate having any of the following sizes can beused: the 6th generation (1500 mm×1850 mm), the 7th generation (1870mm×2200 mm), the 8th generation (2200 mm×2400 mm), the 9th generation(2400 mm×2800 mm), and the 10th generation (2950 mm×3400 mm). Thus, alarge-sized display device can be manufactured.

Alternatively, a flexible substrate may be used as the substrate 11, andthe transistor 60 may be provided directly on the flexible substrate.Alternatively, a separation layer may be provided between the substrate11 and the transistor 60. The separation layer can be used when part orthe whole of a semiconductor device is formed over the separation layerand separated from the substrate 11 and transferred to anothersubstrate. In such a case, the transistor 60 can be transferred to asubstrate having low heat resistance or a flexible substrate as well.

The gate electrode 15 can be formed using a metal element selected fromchromium, copper, aluminum, gold, silver, molybdenum, tantalum,titanium, and tungsten; an alloy containing any of these metal elementsas a component; an alloy containing any of these metal elements incombination; or the like. Further, one or more metal elements selectedfrom manganese or zirconium may be used. The gate electrode 15 may havea single-layer structure or a stacked structure of two or more layers.For example, a single-layer structure of an aluminum film containingsilicon, a two-layer structure in which a titanium film is stacked overan aluminum film, a two-layer structure in which a titanium film isstacked over a titanium nitride film, a two-layer structure in which atungsten film is stacked over a titanium nitride film, a two-layerstructure in which a tungsten film is stacked over a tantalum nitridefilm or a tungsten nitride film, a three-layer structure in which atitanium film, an aluminum film, and a titanium film are stacked in thisorder, and the like can be given. Alternatively, an alloy film or anitride film which contains aluminum and one or more elements selectedfrom titanium, tantalum, tungsten, molybdenum, chromium, neodymium, andscandium may be used.

The gate electrode 15 can be formed using a light-transmittingconductive material such as indium tin oxide, indium oxide containingtungsten oxide, indium zinc oxide containing tungsten oxide, indiumoxide containing titanium oxide, indium tin oxide containing titaniumoxide, indium zinc oxide, or indium tin oxide to which silicon oxide isadded. It is also possible to have a stacked-layer structure formedusing the above light-transmitting conductive material and the abovemetal element.

Further, an In—Ga—Zn-based oxynitride film, an In—Sn-based oxynitridefilm, an In—Ga-based oxynitride film, an In—Zn-based oxynitride film, aSn-based oxynitride film, an In-based oxynitride film, a film of a metalnitride (such as InN or ZnN), or the like may be provided between thegate electrode 15 and the gate insulating film 17. These films each havea work function higher than or equal to 5 eV, or higher than or equal to5.5 eV, which is higher than the electron affinity of the oxidesemiconductor. Thus, the threshold voltage of the transistor includingan oxide semiconductor can be shifted in the positive direction, andwhat is called a normally-off switching element can be achieved. Forexample, in the case of using an In—Ga—Zn-based oxynitride film, anIn—Ga—Zn-based oxynitride film whose nitrogen concentration is higherthan at least the nitrogen concentration of the oxide semiconductor film18, specifically, an In—Ga—Zn-based oxynitride film whose nitrogenconcentration is higher than or equal to 7 at. % is used.

The gate insulating film 17 includes a nitride insulating film 17 aprovided on the gate electrode 15 side and an oxide insulating film 17 cin contact with the oxide semiconductor film 18. One surface of thenitride insulating film 17 a is in contact with the gate electrode 15,and the other surface thereof is in contact with the oxide insulatingfilm 17 c and the pair of electrodes 21 and 22. One surface of the oxideinsulating film 17 c is in contact with the nitride insulating film 17a, and the other surface thereof is in contact with the oxidesemiconductor film 18. That is, the side surfaces of the oxidesemiconductor film 18 are substantially aligned with those of the oxideinsulating film 17 c.

The nitride insulating film 17 a is formed using silicon nitride,silicon nitride oxide, aluminum nitride, aluminum nitride oxide, or thelike.

The nitride insulating film 17 a can be formed to have a single-layerstructure or a stacked-layer structure. As an example of thestacked-layer structure, a stacked-layer structure in which a firstnitride insulating film with a small number of defects and a secondnitride insulating film with a high hydrogen blocking property arestacked in this order from the gate electrode 15 side can be given. Whenthe first nitride insulating film with a small number of defects isprovided, the withstand voltage of the gate insulating film 17 can beimproved. Further, when the second nitride insulating film with a highhydrogen blocking property is provided, hydrogen can be prevented frombeing transferred from the gate electrode 15 and the first nitrideinsulating film to the oxide semiconductor film 18.

Alternatively, the nitride insulating film 17 a can have a stacked-layerstructure in which a first nitride insulating film with a high impurityblocking property, a second nitride insulating film with few defects,and a third nitride insulating film with a high hydrogen blockingproperty are stacked from the gate electrode 15 side in this order. Whenthe first nitride insulating film with a high impurity blocking propertyis provided, an impurity, typically hydrogen, nitrogen, alkali metal,alkaline earth metal, or the like, can be prevented from beingtransferred from the gate electrode 15 to the oxide semiconductor film18.

The oxide insulating film 17 c is formed using silicon oxide, siliconoxynitride, aluminum oxide, hafnium oxide, gallium oxide, a Ga—Zn-basedmetal oxide, or the like.

In this embodiment, the gate insulating film 17 includes the nitrideinsulating film 17 a in contact with the pair of electrodes 21 and 22,and an oxide insulating film 17 c in contact with the oxidesemiconductor film 18. Since the oxide semiconductor film 18 is incontact with the gate insulating film 17, the interface state density atthe interface between the oxide semiconductor film 18 and the gateinsulating film 17 can be reduced. Further, the pair of electrodes 21and 22 is in contact with the nitride insulating film 17 a. The nitrideinsulating film 17 a has a function of preventing oxidization of thepair of electrodes 21 and 22 and has a function of preventing diffusionof the metal element included in the pair of electrodes 21 and 22. Thus,since the pair of electrodes 21 and 22 is in contact with the nitrideinsulating film 17 a, an increase in resistance values of the pair ofelectrodes 21 and 22 can be prevented and a decrease in electricalcharacteristics of a transistor due to diffusion of the metal elementincluded in the pair of electrodes 21 and 22 can also be prevented.

The thickness of the gate insulating film 17 is greater than or equal to5 nm and less than or equal to 400 nm, greater than or equal to 10 nmand less than or equal to 300 nm, or greater than or equal to 50 nm andless than or equal to 250 nm.

The oxide semiconductor film 18 is formed using, typically, In—Ga oxide,In—Zn oxide, and an In-M-Zn oxide (M is Ga, Y, Zr, La, Ce, or Nd).Further, the oxide semiconductor film 18 is formed using a homologouscompound represented by InMO₃(ZnO)_(w) (M is Ga, Y, Zr, La, Ce, or Nd,and m is a natural number).

In the case where the oxide semiconductor film 18 is an In-M-Zn oxidefilm (M is Ga, Y, Zr, La, Ce, or Nd), it is preferable that the atomicratio of metal elements of a sputtering target used for forming a filmof the In-M-Zn oxide satisfy In M and Zn M As the atomic ratio of metalelements of such a sputtering target, InM:Zn=1:1:1 and In:M:Zn=3:1:2 arepreferable. Note that the proportion of the atomic ratio of the oxidesemiconductor film 18 varies within a range of ±40% of the above atomicratio of metal elements of a sputtering target as an error.

Note that in the case where the oxide semiconductor film 18 is anIn-M-Zn oxide film, the proportions of In and M are as follows: theatomic percentage of In is greater than or equal to 25 atomic % and theatomic percentage of M is less than 75 atomic %, or the atomicpercentage of In is greater than or equal to 34 atomic % and the atomicpercentage of M is less than 66 atomic %.

The energy gap of the oxide semiconductor film 18 is 2 eV or more, 2.5eV or more, or 3 eV or more. With the use of an oxide semiconductorhaving such a wide energy gap, the off-state current of the transistor60 can be reduced.

The thickness of the oxide semiconductor film 18 is greater than orequal to 3 nm and less than or equal to 200 nm, greater than or equal to3 nm and less than or equal to 100 nm, or greater than or equal to 3 nmand less than or equal to 50 nm.

Note that it is preferable to use, as the oxide semiconductor film 18,an oxide semiconductor film in which the impurity concentration is lowand density of defect states is low, in which case the transistor canhave more excellent electrical characteristics. Here, the state in whichimpurity concentration is low and density of defect states is low (theamount of oxygen vacancies is small) is referred to as “highly purifiedintrinsic” or “substantially highly purified intrinsic”.

A highly purified intrinsic or substantially highly purified intrinsicoxide semiconductor has few carrier generation sources, and thus has alow carrier density in some cases. Thus, in some cases, a transistorincluding the oxide semiconductor film in which a channel region isformed rarely has a negative threshold voltage (is rarely normally-on).

A highly purified intrinsic or substantially highly purified intrinsicoxide semiconductor film has a low density of defect states andaccordingly has few carrier traps in some cases.

Further, the highly purified intrinsic or substantially highly purifiedintrinsic oxide semiconductor film has an extremely low off-statecurrent; even when an element has a channel width of 1×10⁶ μm and achannel length (L) of 10 μm, the off-state current can be less than orequal to the measurement limit of a semiconductor parameter analyzer,i.e., less than or equal to 1×10⁻¹³ A, at a voltage (drain voltage)between a source electrode and a drain electrode of from 1 V to 10 V.

Thus, the transistor whose channel region is formed in the oxidesemiconductor film has a small variation in electrical characteristicsand high reliability in some cases. Charges trapped by the trap statesin the oxide semiconductor film take a long time to be released and maybehave like fixed charges. Thus, the transistor whose channel region isformed in the oxide semiconductor film having a high density of trapstates has unstable electrical characteristics in some cases. Examplesof the impurities include hydrogen, nitrogen, alkali metal, and alkalineearth metal.

A transistor in which an oxide semiconductor film having a structuresimilar to that of a CAAC oxide film described later (hereinafter,referred to as a c-axis aligned crystalline oxide semiconductor(CAAC-OS) film) is used as the oxide semiconductor film 18 has a smallvariation in electrical characteristics caused by irradiation withvisible light or ultraviolet light.

Hydrogen contained in the oxide semiconductor film reacts with oxygenbonded to a metal atom to be water, and in addition, an oxygen vacancyis formed in a lattice from which oxygen is released (or a portion fromwhich oxygen is released). Due to entry of hydrogen into the oxygenvacancy, an electron serving as a carrier is generated in some cases.Further, in some cases, bonding of part of hydrogen to oxygen bonded toa metal element causes generation of an electron serving as a carrier.Thus, a transistor including an oxide semiconductor which containshydrogen is likely to be normally on.

Accordingly, it is preferable that hydrogen be reduced as much aspossible in the oxide semiconductor film 18. Specifically, the hydrogenconcentration of the oxide semiconductor film 18, which is measured bysecondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS), is lower than or equal to 5×10¹⁹atoms/cm³, lower than or equal to 1×10¹⁹ atoms/cm³, lower than or equalto 5×10¹⁸ atoms/cm³, lower than or equal to 1×10¹⁸ atoms/cm³, lower thanor equal to 5×10¹⁷ atoms/cm³, or lower than or equal to 1×10¹⁶atoms/cm³.

When silicon or carbon which is one of elements belonging to Group 14 iscontained in the oxide semiconductor film 18, the amount of oxygenvacancies is increased, and the oxide semiconductor film 18 becomes ann-type film. Thus, the concentration of silicon or carbon of the oxidesemiconductor film 18 or the concentration of silicon or carbon of thevicinity of the interface between the oxide film 19 and the oxidesemiconductor film 18 (the concentration is measured by SIMS) is lowerthan or equal to 2×10¹⁸ atoms/cm³, or lower than or equal to 2×10¹⁷atoms/cm³.

Further, the concentration of alkali metal or alkaline earth metal ofthe oxide semiconductor film 18, which is measured by SIMS, is lowerthan or equal to 1×10¹⁸ atoms/cm³, or lower than or equal to 2×10¹⁶atoms/cm³. Alkali metal and alkaline earth metal might generate carrierswhen bonded to an oxide semiconductor, in which case the off-statecurrent of the transistor might be increased. Therefore, it ispreferable to reduce the concentration of alkali metal or alkaline earthmetal of the oxide semiconductor film 18.

Further, when containing nitrogen, the oxide semiconductor film 18easily has n-type conductivity by generation of electrons serving ascarriers and an increase of carrier density. Thus, a transistorincluding an oxide semiconductor which contains nitrogen is likely to benormally on. For this reason, nitrogen in the oxide semiconductor filmis preferably reduced as much as possible; the concentration of nitrogenwhich is measured by SIMS is preferably set to, for example, lower thanor equal to 5×10¹⁸ atoms/cm³.

The oxide semiconductor film 18 may have a non-single-crystal structure,for example. The non-single crystal structure includes a CAAC-OS, apolycrystalline structure, a microcrystalline structure described later,or an amorphous structure, for example. Among the non-single crystalstructure, the amorphous structure has the highest density of defectlevels, whereas the CAAC-OS has the lowest density of defect levels.

Note that the oxide semiconductor film 18 may be a mixed film includingtwo or more of a region having an amorphous structure, a region having amicrocrystalline structure, a region having a polycrystalline structure,a CAAC-OS region, and a region having a single-crystal structure. Themixed film has a single-layer structure including, for example, two ormore of a region having an amorphous structure, a region having amicrocrystalline structure, a region having a polycrystalline structure,a CAAC-OS region, and a region having a single-crystal structure in somecases. Further, the mixed film has a stacked-layer structure including,for example, two or more of a region having an amorphous structure, aregion having a microcrystalline structure, a region having apolycrystalline structure, a CAAC-OS region, and a region having asingle-crystal structure in some cases.

The oxide film 19 is typically In—Ga oxide, In—Zn oxide, or an In-M-Znoxide (M is Ga, Y, Zr, La, Ce, or Nd). The energy at the conduction bandbottom of the oxide film 19 is closer to a vacuum level than that of theoxide semiconductor film 18 is, and typically, the difference betweenthe energy at the conduction band bottom of the oxide film 19 and theenergy at the conduction band bottom of the oxide semiconductor film 18is any one of 0.05 eV or more, 0.07 eV or more, 0.1 eV or more, and 0.15eV or more, and any one of 2 eV or less, 1 eV or less, 0.5 eV or less,and 0.4 eV or less. That is, the difference between the electronaffinity of the oxide film 19 and the electron affinity of the oxidesemiconductor film 18 is any one of 0.05 eV or more, 0.07 eV or more,0.1 eV or more, and 0.15 eV or more, and any one of 2 eV or less, 1 eVor less, 0.5 eV or less, and 0.4 eV or less.

In the case where the oxide film 19 is an In-M-Zn oxide film (M is Ga,Y, Zr, La, Ce, or Nd), the atomic ratio of metal elements of asputtering target used for formation of the In-M-Zn oxide filmpreferably satisfies M>In and Zn>0.5×M, and more preferably, also Zn MAs the atomic ratio of metal elements of such a sputtering target,In:Ga:Zn=1:3:2, In:Ga:Zn=1:3:3, In:Ga:Zn=1:3:4, In:Ga:Zn=1:3:5,In:Ga:Zn=1:3:6, In:Ga:Zn=1:3:7, In:Ga:Zn=1:3:8, In:Ga:Zn=1:3:9,In:Ga:Zn=1:3:10, In:Ga:Zn=1:4:3, In:Ga:Zn=1:4:4, In:Ga:Zn=1:4:5,In:Ga:Zn=1:4:6, In:Ga:Zn=1:4:7, In:Ga:Zn=1:4:8, In:Ga:Zn=1:4:9,In:Ga:Zn=1:4:10, In:Ga:Zn=1:5:3, In:Ga:Zn=1:5:4, In:Ga:Zn=1:5:5,In:Ga:Zn=1:5:6, In:Ga:Zn=1:5:7, In:Ga:Zn=1:5:8, In:Ga:Zn=1:5:9,In:Ga:Zn=1:5:10, In:Ga:Zn=1:6:4, In:Ga:Zn=1:6:5, In:Ga:Zn=1:6:6,In:Ga:Zn=1:6:7, In:Ga:Zn=1:6:8, In:Ga:Zn=1:6:9, and In:Ga:Zn=1:6:10 arepreferable. When the atomic ratio of metal elements of a sputteringtarget used for formation of the In-M-Zn oxide film is M>In and Zn M,the CAAC oxide film can be formed. Note that the proportion of eachmetal element in the atomic ratio of the oxide film 19 formed using theabove-described sputtering target varies within a range of ±40% of theabove atomic ratio of metal elements of a sputtering target as an error.

Further, the oxide film 19 is formed using the CAAC oxide film.

The CAAC oxide film is one of oxide semiconductor films having aplurality of crystal parts. The crystal parts included in the CAAC oxidefilm each have c-axis alignment. In a plan transmission electronmicroscope (TEM) image, the area of the crystal parts included in theCAAC oxide film is greater than or equal to 2500 nm², greater than orequal to 5 μm², or greater than or equal to 1000 μm². Further, in across-sectional TEM image, when the proportion of the crystal parts isgreater than or equal to 50%, greater than or equal to 80%, or greaterthan or equal to 95% of the CAAC oxide film, the CAAC oxide film is athin film having physical properties similar to those of a singlecrystal.

In a TEM image of the CAAC oxide film, a boundary between crystal parts,that is, a grain boundary is not clearly observed. Thus, in the CAACoxide film, a reduction in electron mobility due to the grain boundaryis less likely to occur.

According to the TEM image of the CAAC oxide film observed in adirection substantially parallel to a sample surface (cross-sectionalTEM image), metal atoms are arranged in a layered manner in the crystalparts. Each metal atom layer has a morphology reflected by a surfaceover which the CAAC oxide film is formed (hereinafter, a surface overwhich the CAAC oxide film is formed is referred to as a formationsurface) or a top surface of the CAAC oxide film, and is arranged inparallel to the formation surface or the top surface of the CAAC oxidefilm. In this specification, a term “parallel” indicates that the angleformed between two straight lines is greater than or equal to −10° andless than or equal to 10°, and accordingly also includes the case wherethe angle is greater than or equal to −5° and less than or equal to 5°.In addition, a term “perpendicular” indicates that the angle formedbetween two straight lines is greater than or equal to 80° and less thanor equal to 100°, and accordingly includes the case where the angle isgreater than or equal to 85° and less than or equal to 95°.

On the other hand, according to the TEM image of the CAAC oxide filmobserved in a direction substantially perpendicular to the samplesurface (plan TEM image), metal atoms are arranged in a triangular orhexagonal configuration in the crystal parts. However, there is noregularity of arrangement of metal atoms between different crystalparts.

Note that in an electron diffraction pattern of the CAAC oxide film,spots (luminescent spots) having alignment are shown.

From the results of the cross-sectional TEM image and the plan TEMimage, alignment is found in the crystal parts in the CAAC oxide film.

A CAAC oxide film is subjected to structural analysis with an X-raydiffraction (XRD) apparatus. When the CAAC oxide film is analyzed by anout-of-plane method, a peak appears frequently when the diffractionangle (2θ) is around 31°. This peak is derived from the (00x) plane (xis an integer) of the InGaZn oxide crystal, which indicates thatcrystals in the CAAC oxide film have c-axis alignment, and that thec-axes are aligned in a direction substantially perpendicular to theformation surface or the top surface of the CAAC oxide film.

On the other hand, when the CAAC oxide film is analyzed by an in-planemethod in which an X-ray enters a sample in a direction substantiallyperpendicular to the c-axis, a peak appears frequently when 28 is around56°. This peak is derived from the (110) plane of the InGaZn oxidecrystal. Here, analysis (ϕ scan) is performed under conditions where thesample is rotated around a normal vector of a sample surface as an axis(0 axis) with 2θ fixed at around 56°. In the case where the sample is asingle-crystal metal oxide semiconductor film of InGaZn oxide, six peaksappear. The six peaks are derived from crystal planes equivalent to the(110) plane. On the other hand, in the case of a CAAC oxide film, a peakis not clearly observed even when 0 scan is performed with 2θ fixed ataround 56°.

According to the above results, in the CAAC oxide film, which has c-axisalignment, while the directions of a-axes and b-axes are differentbetween crystal parts, the c-axes are aligned in a direction parallel toa normal vector of a formation surface or a normal vector of a topsurface. Thus, each metal atom layer arranged in a layered mannerobserved in the cross-sectional TEM image corresponds to a planeparallel to the a-b plane of the crystal.

Note that the crystal part is formed concurrently with deposition of theCAAC oxide film or is formed through crystallization treatment such asheat treatment. As described above, the c-axis of the crystal part isaligned in a direction parallel to a normal vector of a formationsurface or a normal vector of a top surface of the CAAC oxide film.Thus, for example, in the case where a shape of the CAAC oxide film ischanged by etching or the like, the c-axis of the crystal part might notbe necessarily parallel to a normal vector of a formation surface or anormal vector of a top surface of the CAAC oxide film.

Further, the degree of crystallinity in the CAAC oxide film is notnecessarily uniform. For example, in the case where crystal growthleading to the CAAC oxide film occurs from the vicinity of the topsurface of the film, the degree of the crystallinity in the vicinity ofthe top surface is higher than that in the vicinity of the formationsurface in some cases. Further, when an impurity is added to the CAACoxide film, the crystallinity in a region to which the impurity is addedis changed, and the degree of crystallinity in the CAAC oxide filmvaries depending on regions.

Note that when the CAAC oxide film is analyzed by an out-of-planemethod, a peak of 2θ may also be observed at around 36°, in addition tothe peak of 2θ at around 31°. The peak of 2θ at around 36° indicatesthat a crystal having no c-axis alignment is included in part of theCAAC oxide film. It is preferable that in the CAAC oxide film, a peak of2θ appear at around 31° and a peak of 2θ do not appear at around 36°.

The oxide film 19 is formed using the CAAC oxide film, which has c-axisalignment, and in which a grain boundary is not found and the c-axes arealigned in a direction parallel to a normal vector of a formationsurface or a normal vector of a top surface, thereby functioning as afilm preventing transfer of the metal element included in the pair ofelectrodes 21 and 22, for example, copper, aluminum, gold, silver, ormolybdenum. Thus, the metal element included in the pair of electrodes21 and 22 is not easily transferred to the oxide semiconductor film 18.As a result, the impurities in the oxide semiconductor film 18 of themultilayer film 20 can be reduced. Further, a transistor of whichelectrical characteristics are improved can be manufactured.

When the oxide film 19 contains a larger amount of Ga, Y, Zr, La, Ce, orNd in an atomic ratio than the amount of In in an atomic ratio, any ofthe following effects may be obtained: (1) the energy gap of the oxidefilm 19 is widened; (2) the electron affinity of the oxide film 19 isdecreased; (3) diffusion of external impurities is reduced; and (4) aninsulating property of the oxide film 19 is increased as compared to theoxide semiconductor film 18. Further, oxygen vacancies are less likelyto be generated in the oxide film 19 containing a larger amount of Ga,Y, Zr, La, Ce, or Nd in an atomic ratio than the amount of In in anatomic ratio because Ga, Y, Zr, La, Ce, or Nd is a metal element whichis strongly bonded to oxygen.

In the case where the oxide film 19 is an In-M-Zn oxide film, theproportions of In and M when summation of In and M is assumed to be 100atomic % are as follows: the atomic percentage of In is less than 50atomic % and the atomic percentage of M is greater than or equal to 50atomic %; or the atomic percentage of In is less than 25 atomic % andthe atomic percentage of M is greater than or equal to 75 atomic %.

In the case where each of the oxide semiconductor film 18 and the oxidefilm 19 is an In-M-Zn oxide film (M is Ga, Y, Zr, La, Ce, or Nd), theproportion of M atoms (M is Ga, Y, Zr, La, Ce, or Nd) in the oxide film19 is higher than that in the oxide semiconductor film 18. Typically,the proportion of M in each of the films is 1.5 or more times, twice ormore, or three or more times as high as that in the oxide semiconductorfilm 18.

In the case where each of the oxide semiconductor film 18 and the oxidefilm 19 is an In-M-Zn oxide film (M is Ga, Y, Zr, La, Ce, or Nd), whenIn:M:Zn=x₁:y₁:z₁ [atomic ratio] is satisfied in the oxide film 19 andIn:M:Zn=x₂:y₂:z₂ [atomic ratio] is satisfied in the oxide semiconductorfilm 18, y₁/x₁ is higher than y₂/x₂. For example, y₁/x₁ is 1.5 or moretimes as high as y₂/x₂. Alternatively, y₁/x₁ is twice or more as high asy₂/x₂, or y₁/x₁ is three or more times as high as y₂/x₂. In this case,it is preferable that in the oxide semiconductor film, y₂ be higher thanor equal to x₂ because a transistor including the oxide semiconductorfilm can have stable electric characteristics.

An oxide semiconductor film and an oxide film with low carrier densityare used as the oxide semiconductor film 18 and the oxide film 19. Forexample, an oxide semiconductor film and an oxide film each havingcarrier density of 1×10¹⁷/cm³ or lower, 1×10¹⁵/cm³ or lower, 1×10¹³/cm³or lower, or 1×10¹¹/cm³ or lower are used as the oxide semiconductorfilm 18 and the oxide film 19.

Note that, without limitation to that described above, a material withan appropriate composition may be used depending on requiredsemiconductor characteristics and electrical characteristics (e.g.,field-effect mobility and threshold voltage) of a transistor. Further,in order to obtain required semiconductor characteristics of atransistor, it is preferable that the carrier density, the impurityconcentration, the defect density, the atomic ratio of a metal elementto oxygen, the interatomic distance, the density, and the like of theoxide semiconductor film 18 be set to be appropriate.

The oxide film 19 also serves as a film which relieves damage to theoxide semiconductor film 18 at the time of forming the oxide insulatingfilm 24 later.

The thickness of the oxide film 19 is greater than or equal to 3 nm andless than or equal to 100 nm, or greater than or equal to 3 nm and lessthan or equal to 50 nm.

In the transistor 60 described in this embodiment, the oxide film 19 isformed using the CAAC oxide film. Thus, the oxide film 19 can reducediffusion of external impurities, and can reduce the amount ofimpurities which are transferred from the pair of electrodes 21 and 22to the oxide semiconductor film 18. Thus, even when the pair ofelectrodes 21 and 22 is formed using copper, aluminum, gold, silver, ormolybdenum, or even when a film of the pair of electrodes 21 and 22 thatis in contact with the oxide film 19 is formed using a low-resistancematerial, such as copper, aluminum, gold, silver, or molybdenum, copper,aluminum, gold, silver, or molybdenum in the pair of electrodes 21 and22 is not easily transferred to the oxide semiconductor film 18 throughthe oxide film 19. As a result, variation in the threshold voltage ofthe transistor can be reduced.

The oxide film 19 is provided between the oxide semiconductor film 18and the oxide insulating film 23. Hence, if trap states are formedbetween the oxide film 19 and the oxide insulating film 23 owing toimpurities and defects, electrons flowing in the oxide semiconductorfilm 18 are less likely to be captured by the trap states because thereis a distance between the trap states and the oxide semiconductor film18. Accordingly, the amount of on-state current of the transistor can beincreased, and the field-effect mobility can be increased. When theelectrons are captured by the trap states, the electrons become negativefixed charges. As a result, a threshold voltage of the transistorvaries. However, by the distance between the oxide semiconductor film 18and the trap states, capture of the electrons by the trap states can bereduced, and accordingly a fluctuation of the threshold voltage can bereduced.

Further, an oxygen vacancy is less likely to be formed in the oxide film19.

Consequently, the impurity concentration and the amount of oxygenvacancies in the oxide semiconductor film 18 can be reduced.

Further, in the transistor 60 described in this embodiment, the pair ofelectrodes 21 and 22 is formed in contact with the multilayer film 20.

The pair of electrodes 21 and 22 is formed using a single-layerstructure or a stacked-layer structure of a single metal that is alow-resistance material, such as copper, aluminum, gold, silver, ormolybdenum or a compound or an alloy including any of these metals asits main component. For example, a single-layer structure of an aluminumfilm containing silicon, a single-layer structure of a copper film, asingle-layer structure of a gold film, a two-layer structure in which atitanium film is stacked over an aluminum film, a two-layer structure inwhich a copper film, a silver film, or a gold film is stacked over acopper-magnesium-aluminum alloy film, and the like can be given. In thepair of electrodes 21 and 22 with a stacked-layer structure, a film incontact with the oxide film 19 is formed using a low-resistancematerial, such as copper, aluminum, gold, silver, or molybdenum.

Since the pair of electrodes 21 and 22 is formed using a low-resistancematerial, such as copper, aluminum, gold, silver, or molybdenum, asemiconductor device in which wiring delay is suppressed can bemanufactured using a large-sized substrate. Furthermore, a semiconductordevice with reduced power consumption can be manufactured.

The oxide insulating film 23 is an oxide insulating film which ispermeable to oxygen. The oxide insulating film 23 also serves as a filmwhich relieves damage to the multi-layer film 20 at the time of formingthe oxide insulating film 24 which is formed later.

As the oxide insulating film 23, a silicon oxide film, a siliconoxynitride film, or the like having a thickness greater than or equal to5 nm and less than or equal to 150 nm, or greater than or equal to 5 nmand less than or equal to 50 nm, can be used. Note that in thisspecification, a “silicon oxynitride film” refers to a film thatincludes more oxygen than nitrogen, and a “silicon nitride oxide film”refers to a film that includes more nitrogen than oxygen.

Further, it is preferable that the number of defects in the oxideinsulating film 23 be small, and typically the spin density of a signaldue to a dangling bond of silicon, which appears when g is 2.001, belower than or equal to 3×10¹⁷ spins/cm³ by ESR measurement. This isbecause if the density of defects in the oxide insulating film 23 ishigh, oxygen is bonded to the defects and the amount of oxygen thatpermeates the oxide insulating film 23 is decreased.

Further, it is preferable that the number of defects at the interfacebetween the oxide insulating film 23 and the multi-layer film 20 besmall, and typically the spin density of a signal due to an oxygenvacancy in the multi-layer film 20, which appears when g is 1.93, belower than or equal to 1×10¹⁷ spins/cm³, more preferably lower than orequal to the lower limit of detection by ESR measurement.

Note that all oxygen atoms entering the oxide insulating film 23 fromthe outside are not transferred to the outside of the oxide insulatingfilm 23 and some oxygen remains in the oxide insulating film 23 in somecases. Further, oxygen enters the oxide insulating film 23 and oxygencontained in the oxide insulating film 23 is transferred to the outsideof the oxide insulating film 23, whereby transfer of oxygen in the oxideinsulating film 23 occurs in some cases.

An oxide insulating film which is permeable to oxygen is formed as theoxide insulating film 23, so that oxygen released from the oxideinsulating film 24 formed over the oxide insulating film 23 can betransferred to the oxide semiconductor film 18 through the oxideinsulating film 23.

Further, the oxide insulating film 24 is formed to be in contact withthe oxide insulating film 23. The oxide insulating film 24 is formedusing an oxide insulating film which contains oxygen at a higherproportion than the stoichiometric composition. Part of oxygen isreleased by heating from the oxide insulating film which contains oxygenat a higher proportion than the stoichiometric composition. The oxideinsulating film which contains oxygen at a higher proportion than thestoichiometric composition is an oxide insulating film in which theamount of released oxygen converted into oxygen atoms is greater than orequal to 1.0×10¹⁸ atoms/cm³, or greater than or equal to 3.0×10²⁰atoms/cm³ in TDS analysis.

As the oxide insulating film 24, a silicon oxide film, a siliconoxynitride film, or the like having a thickness greater than or equal to30 nm and less than or equal to 500 nm, or greater than or equal to 50nm and less than or equal to 400 nm can be used.

Further, it is preferable that the number of defects in the oxideinsulating film 24 be small, and typically the spin density of a signaldue to a dangling bond of silicon, which appears when g is 2.001, belower than or equal to 1.5×10¹⁸ spins/cm³, more preferably lower than orequal to 1×10¹⁸ spins/cm³ by ESR measurement. Since the distance betweenthe multi-layer film 20 and the oxide insulating film 24 is greater thanthe distance between the multi-layer film 20 and the oxide insulatingfilm 23, the oxide insulating film 24 may have a higher defect densitythan the oxide insulating film 23.

Further, it is possible to prevent outward diffusion of oxygen from themultilayer film 20 and entry of hydrogen, water, or the like into themultilayer film 20 from the outside by providing the nitride insulatingfilm 25 having a blocking effect against oxygen, hydrogen, water, alkalimetal, alkaline earth metal, and the like over the oxide insulating film24. The nitride insulating film is formed using silicon nitride, siliconnitride oxide, aluminum nitride, aluminum nitride oxide, or the like.Note that instead of the nitride insulating film having a blockingeffect against oxygen, hydrogen, water, alkali metal, alkaline earthmetal, and the like, an oxide insulating film having a blocking effectagainst oxygen, hydrogen, water, and the like, may be provided. As theoxide insulating film having a blocking effect against oxygen, hydrogen,water, and the like, aluminum oxide, aluminum oxynitride, gallium oxide,gallium oxynitride, yttrium oxide, yttrium oxynitride, hafnium oxide,and hafnium oxynitride can be given.

Next, a method for manufacturing the transistor 60 illustrated in FIGS.1A to 1C is described with reference to FIGS. 2A to 2E.

As illustrated in FIG. 2A, the gate electrode 15 is formed over thesubstrate 11, and the nitride insulating film 17 a and an oxideinsulating film 17 b are formed over the gate electrode 15.

Here, a glass substrate is used as the substrate 11.

A method for forming the gate electrode 15 is described below. First, aconductive film is formed by a sputtering method, a CVD method, anevaporation method, or the like. Then, a mask is formed over theconductive film by a photolithography process. Next, part of theconductive film is etched with the use of the mask to form the gateelectrode 15. After that, the mask is removed.

Note that the gate electrode 15 may be formed by an electrolytic platingmethod, a printing method, an inkjet method, or the like instead of theabove formation method.

Here, a 100-nm-thick tungsten film is formed by a sputtering method.Next, a mask is formed by a photolithography process, and the tungstenfilm is subjected to dry etching with the use of the mask to form thegate electrode 15.

The nitride insulating film 17 a and the oxide insulating film 17 b areformed by a sputtering method, a CVD method, an evaporation method, orthe like.

In the case of forming a silicon nitride film or a silicon nitride oxidefilm as the nitride insulating film 17 a, a deposition gas containingsilicon and a nitrogen gas and/or an ammonia gas are preferably used asa source gas. Typical examples of the deposition gas containing siliconinclude silane, disilane, trisilane, and silane fluoride.

In the case of forming a silicon oxide film or a silicon oxynitride filmas the oxide insulating film 17 b, a deposition gas containing siliconand an oxidizing gas are preferably used as a source gas. As theoxidizing gas, oxygen, ozone, dinitrogen monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, andthe like are given.

Moreover, in the case of forming a gallium oxide film as the oxideinsulating film 17 b, a metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD)method can be employed.

Next, as illustrated in FIG. 2B, the oxide semiconductor film 18 and theoxide film 19 are formed over the oxide insulating film 17 b.

Methods for forming the oxide semiconductor film 18 and the oxide film19 are described below. An oxide semiconductor film which is to be theoxide semiconductor film 18 and an oxide film which is to be the oxidefilm 19 are successively formed over the gate insulating film 17. Next,after a mask is formed over the oxide film by a photolithographyprocess, the oxide semiconductor film and the oxide film are partlyetched with the use of the mask; thus, as shown in FIG. 2B, themultilayer film 20 which includes the oxide semiconductor film 18 andthe oxide film 19 that are subjected to element isolation is formed.After that, the mask is removed.

The oxide semiconductor film to be the oxide semiconductor film 18 andthe oxide film to be the oxide film 19 can be formed by a sputteringmethod, a coating method, a pulsed laser deposition method, a laserablation method, or the like.

In the case where the oxide semiconductor film and the oxide film areformed by a sputtering method, a power supply device for generatingplasma can be an RF power supply device, an AC power supply device, a DCpower supply device, or the like as appropriate.

As a sputtering gas, a rare gas (typically argon), an oxygen gas, or amixed gas of a rare gas and oxygen is used as appropriate. In the caseof using the mixed gas of a rare gas and oxygen, the proportion ofoxygen to a rare gas is preferably increased.

Further, a target may be appropriately selected in accordance with thecomposition of the oxide semiconductor film and the oxide film to beformed.

In the case where the oxide semiconductor film to be the oxidesemiconductor film 18 and the oxide film to be the oxide film 19 areformed using a CAAC-OS film and a CAAC oxide film, respectively, atarget including a polycrystalline metal oxide having c-axis alignmentis preferably used. The target including a polycrystalline metal oxidehaving c-axis alignment has a cleavage plane where the crystal iscleaved along a plane parallel to a surface subjected to sputtering bysputtered particles. When the sputtered particle collides with thetarget, part of the target (flat-plate particles) is separated by beingcut out along the cleavage plane and a portion where an interatomic bondis weak. The flat-plate particles are deposited on a deposition surface,so that the CAAC-OS film and the CAAC oxide film can be formed. Notethat the flat-plate particle may have a hexagonal prism shape in whichthe cleavage plane is a flat plane parallel to an a-b plane or atriangular prism shape in which the cleavage plane is a flat planeparallel to an a-b plane.

In the case where the oxide semiconductor film to be the oxidesemiconductor film 18 and the oxide film to be the oxide film 19 areIn-M-Zn oxide films, the atomic ratio of metal elements of thesputtering target for each film preferably satisfies Zn By heating at atemperature higher than or equal to 200° C. and lower than or equal to500° C., in ZnO, which is a hexagonal crystal, Zn atoms and O atoms arebound in a hexagonal shape on the a-b plane and c-axes are aligned.Thus, the ZnO is used as a seed crystal and the flat-plate particles aredeposited so as to be aligned with the orientation of the ZnO, whereby aCAAC-OS film and a CAAC oxide film each having a crystal part whose areais greater than or equal to 2500 nm², greater than or equal to 5 μm², orgreater than or equal to 1000 μm² in a plan TEM image can be formed.

Note that the oxide semiconductor film and the oxide film are not formedby simply stacking each film, but are formed to form a continuousjunction (here, in particular, a structure in which the energy of thebottom of the conduction band is changed continuously between eachfilm). In other words, a stacked-layer structure in which there existsno impurity which forms a defect level such as a trap center or arecombination center at each interface is provided. If an impurityexists between the oxide semiconductor film and the oxide film which arestacked, a continuity of the energy band is damaged, and the carrier iscaptured or recombined at the interface and then disappears.

In order to form such a continuous energy band, it is necessary to formfilms continuously without being exposed to air, with use of amulti-chamber deposition apparatus (sputtering apparatus) including aload lock chamber. Each chamber in the sputtering apparatus ispreferably evacuated to be a high vacuum state (to the degree of about5×10⁻⁷ Pa to 1×10⁻⁴ Pa) with an adsorption vacuum evacuation pump suchas a cryopump in order to remove water or the like, which serves as animpurity against the oxide semiconductor film, as much as possible.Alternatively, a turbo molecular pump and a cold trap are preferablycombined so as to prevent a backflow of a gas, especially a gascontaining carbon or hydrogen from an exhaust system to the inside ofthe chamber.

In order to obtain an intrinsic or substantially intrinsic oxidesemiconductor film, besides the high vacuum evacuation of the chamber, ahigh purification of a sputtering gas is also needed. As an oxygen gasor an argon gas used for a sputtering gas, a gas which is highlypurified to have a dew point of −40° C. or lower, −80° C. or lower,−100° C. or lower, or −120° C. or lower is used, whereby entry ofmoisture or the like into the oxide semiconductor film can be preventedas much as possible.

Here, a 35-nm-thick In—Ga—Zn oxide film is formed as the oxidesemiconductor film by a sputtering method using an In—Ga—Zn oxide target(In:Ga:Zn=1:1:1), and then a 20-nm-thick In—Ga—Zn oxide film is formedas the oxide film by a sputtering method using an In—Ga—Zn oxide target(In:Ga:Zn=1:3:4). Next, a mask is formed over the oxide film, and theoxide semiconductor film and the oxide film are partly and selectivelyetched to form the multilayer film 20 including the oxide semiconductorfilm 18 and the oxide film 19.

After that, first heat treatment is performed. By the first heattreatment, hydrogen, water, and the like are released from the oxidesemiconductor film 18, so that the amount of hydrogen and water in theoxide semiconductor film 18 can be reduced. The heat treatment isperformed typically at a temperature higher than or equal to 300° C. andlower than or equal to 400° C., or higher than or equal to 320° C. andlower than or equal to 370° C.

An electric furnace, an RTA apparatus, or the like can be used for thefirst heat treatment. With the use of an RTA apparatus, the heattreatment can be performed at a temperature higher than or equal to thestrain point of the substrate if the heating time is short. Thus, theheat treatment time can be shortened.

The first heat treatment is preferably performed under an atmosphere ofnitrogen, oxygen, ultra-dry air (air in which a water content is 20 ppmor less, 1 ppm or less, or 10 ppb or less), or a rare gas (argon,helium, or the like). The atmosphere of nitrogen, oxygen, ultra-dry air,or a rare gas preferably does not contain hydrogen, water, and the like.Further, after heat treatment performed in a nitrogen atmosphere or arare gas atmosphere, heat treatment may be additionally performed in anoxygen atmosphere or an ultra-dry air atmosphere. As a result, hydrogen,water, and the like can be released from the oxide semiconductor filmand oxygen can be supplied to the oxide semiconductor film at the sametime. Consequently, the amount of oxygen vacancies in the oxidesemiconductor film can be reduced.

Next, as illustrated in FIG. 2C, the oxide insulating film 17 b ispartly etched to form the oxide insulating film 17 c. Through the abovesteps, the gate insulating film 17 including the nitride insulating film17 a and the oxide insulating film 17 c can be formed. The oxideinsulating film 17 b is etched using the multilayer film 20 as a mask,whereby the separated oxide insulating film 17 c subjected to elementisolation can be formed. Alternatively, after the multilayer film 20 isformed using a mask formed in a photolithography process, the oxideinsulating film 17 b is etched using the mask, whereby the separatedoxide insulating film 17 c subjected to element isolation is formed andheat treatment may be performed after that instead of after theformation of the multilayer film 20. As a result, the separated oxideinsulating film 17 c subjected to element isolation can be formedwithout an increase in the number of photomasks. Further, part of thenitride insulating film 17 a can be exposed.

Next, as shown in FIG. 2D, the pair of electrodes 21 and 22 is formed.

A method for forming the pair of electrodes 21 and 22 is describedbelow. First, a conductive film is formed by a sputtering method, a CVDmethod, an evaporation method, or the like. Then, a mask is formed overthe conductive film by a photolithography process. Next, the conductivefilm is etched with the use of the mask to form the pair of electrodes21 and 22. After that, the mask is removed.

Here, a 400-nm-thick copper film is formed by a sputtering method. Next,a mask is formed over the copper film by a photolithography process andthe copper film is dry-etched with use of the mask to form the pair ofelectrodes 21 and 22.

In this embodiment, the pair of electrodes 21 and 22 is mainly incontact with the nitride insulating film 17 a of the gate insulatingfilm 17 and a contact area between the pair of electrodes 21 and 22 andthe oxide insulating film 17 c is extremely small.

The nitride insulating film 17 a has a function of preventingoxidization and diffusion of the metal element included in the pair ofelectrodes 21 and 22. Thus, since the pair of electrodes 21 and 22 is incontact with the nitride insulating film 17 a of the gate insulatingfilm 17, oxidization and diffusion of the metal element included in thepair of electrodes 21 and 22 can be prevented.

Next, as shown in FIG. 2E, the oxide insulating film 23 is formed overthe multilayer film 20 and the pair of electrodes 21 and 22. Next, theoxide insulating film 24 is formed over the oxide insulating film 23.

Note that after the oxide insulating film 23 is formed, the oxideinsulating film 24 is preferably formed in succession without exposureto the air. After the oxide insulating film 23 is formed, the oxideinsulating film 24 is formed in succession by adjusting at least one ofthe flow rate of a source gas, pressure, a high-frequency power, and asubstrate temperature without exposure to the air, whereby theconcentration of impurities attributed to the atmospheric component atthe interface between the oxide insulating film 23 and the oxideinsulating film 24 can be reduced and oxygen in the oxide insulatingfilm 24 can be transferred to the oxide semiconductor film 18;accordingly, the amount of oxygen vacancies in the oxide semiconductorfilm 18 can be reduced.

As the oxide insulating film 23, a silicon oxide film or a siliconoxynitride film can be formed under the following conditions: thesubstrate placed in a treatment chamber of a plasma CVD apparatus thatis vacuum-evacuated is held at a temperature higher than or equal to180° C. and lower than or equal to 400° C., or higher than or equal to200° C. and lower than or equal to 370° C., the pressure is greater thanor equal to 20 Pa and less than or equal to 250 Pa, or greater than orequal to 100 Pa and less than or equal to 250 Pa with introduction of asource gas into the treatment chamber, and a high-frequency power issupplied to an electrode provided in the treatment chamber.

A deposition gas containing silicon and an oxidizing gas are preferablyused as the source gas of the oxide insulating film 23. Typical examplesof the deposition gas containing silicon include silane, disilane,trisilane, and silane fluoride. As the oxidizing gas, oxygen, ozone,dinitrogen monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, and the like can be given asexamples.

With the use of the above conditions, an oxide insulating film which ispermeable to oxygen can be formed as the oxide insulating film 23.Further, by providing the oxide film 19 and the oxide insulating film23, damage to the oxide semiconductor film 18 can be reduced in a stepof forming the oxide insulating film 24 which is formed later.

As for the oxide insulating film 23, a silicon oxide film or a siliconoxynitride film can be formed as the oxide insulating film 23 under thefollowing conditions: the substrate placed in a treatment chamber of aplasma CVD apparatus that is vacuum-evacuated is held at a temperaturehigher than or equal to 300° C. and lower than or equal to 400° C., orhigher than or equal to 320° C. and lower than or equal to 370° C., thepressure is greater than or equal to 100 Pa and less than or equal to250 Pa with introduction of a source gas into the treatment chamber, anda high-frequency power is supplied to an electrode provided in thetreatment chamber.

Under the above film formation conditions, owing to the substratetemperature is higher than or equal to 300° C. and lower than or equalto 400° C., or higher than or equal to 320° C. and lower than or equalto 370° C., the bonding strength between silicon and oxygen becomesstrong. Thus, as the oxide insulating film 23, a dense and hard oxideinsulating film which is permeable to oxygen, typically, a silicon oxidefilm or a silicon oxynitride film of which etching using hydrofluoricacid of 0.5 wt % at 25° C. is performed at a rate lower than or equal to10 nm/min, or lower than or equal to 8 nm/min can be formed.

In the process, the oxide insulating film 23 is formed while heating isperformed; thus, hydrogen, water, or the like contained in the oxidesemiconductor film 18 can be released in the step. Hydrogen contained inthe oxide semiconductor film 18 is bonded to an oxygen radical formed inplasma to form water. Since the substrate is heated in the step offorming the oxide insulating film 23, water formed by bonding of oxygenand hydrogen is released from the oxide semiconductor film. That is,when the oxide insulating film 23 is formed by a plasma CVD method, theamount of water and hydrogen contained in the oxide semiconductor filmcan be reduced.

Note that by setting the pressure in the treatment chamber to be greaterthan or equal to 100 Pa and less than or equal to 250 Pa, the amount ofwater contained in the oxide insulating film 23 is reduced; thus,variation in electrical characteristics of the transistor 60 can bereduced and change in threshold voltage can be inhibited. Further, bysetting the pressure in the treatment chamber to be greater than orequal to 100 Pa and less than or equal to 250 Pa, damage to themultilayer film 20 including the oxide semiconductor film 18 can bereduced when the oxide insulating film 23 is formed, so that the amountof oxygen vacancies contained in the oxide semiconductor film 18 can bereduced. In particular, when the film formation temperature of the oxideinsulating film 23 or the oxide insulating film 24 which is formed lateris set to be high, typically higher than 220° C., part of oxygencontained in the oxide semiconductor film 18 is released and oxygenvacancies are easily formed. Further, when the film formation conditionsfor reducing the amount of defects in the oxide insulating film 24 whichis formed later are used to increase reliability of the transistor, theamount of released oxygen is easily reduced. Thus, it is difficult toreduce the number of oxygen vacancies in the oxide semiconductor film 18in some cases. However, by setting the pressure in the treatment chamberto be greater than or equal to 100 Pa and less than or equal to 250 Pato reduce damage to the oxide semiconductor film 18 at the time offorming the oxide insulating film 23, the number of oxygen vacancies inthe oxide semiconductor film 18 can be reduced even when the amount ofoxygen released from the oxide insulating film 24 is small.

Note that when the ratio of the amount of the oxidizing gas to theamount of the deposition gas containing silicon is 100 or higher, thehydrogen content in the oxide insulating film 23 can be reduced.Consequently, the amount of hydrogen entering the oxide semiconductorfilm 18 can be reduced; thus, the negative shift in the thresholdvoltage of the transistor can be inhibited.

Here, as the oxide insulating film 23, a 50-nm-thick silicon oxynitridefilm is formed by a plasma CVD method in which silane with a flow rateof 30 sccm and dinitrogen monoxide with a flow rate of 4000 sccm areused as source gases, the pressure in the treatment chamber is 200 Pa,the substrate temperature is 220° C., and a high-frequency power of 150W is supplied to parallel plate electrodes with the use of a 27.12 MHzhigh-frequency power source. Under the above conditions, a siliconoxynitride film which is permeable to oxygen can be formed. Note that amethod for forming the oxide insulating film 23 is not limited to themethod using the 27.12 MHz high-frequency power source described in thisembodiment, and the oxide insulating film 23 may be formed using a 13.56MHz high-frequency power source, for example.

As the oxide insulating film 24, a silicon oxide film or a siliconoxynitride film is formed under the following conditions: the substrateplaced in a treatment chamber of the plasma CVD apparatus that isvacuum-evacuated is held at a temperature higher than or equal to 180°C. and lower than or equal to 280° C., or higher than or equal to 200°C. and lower than or equal to 240° C., the pressure is greater than orequal to 100 Pa and less than or equal to 250 Pa, or greater than orequal to 100 Pa and less than or equal to 200 Pa with introduction of asource gas into the treatment chamber, and a high-frequency powergreater than or equal to 0.17 W/cm² and less than or equal to 0.5 W/cm²,or greater than or equal to 0.25 W/cm² and less than or equal to 0.35W/cm² is supplied to an electrode provided in the treatment chamber.

A deposition gas containing silicon and an oxidizing gas are preferablyused as the source gas of the oxide insulating film 24. Typical examplesof the deposition gas containing silicon include silane, disilane,trisilane, and silane fluoride. As the oxidizing gas, oxygen, ozone,dinitrogen monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, and the like can be given asexamples.

As the film formation conditions of the oxide insulating film 24, thehigh-frequency power having the above power density is supplied to thetreatment chamber having the above pressure, whereby the degradationefficiency of the source gas in plasma is increased, oxygen radicals areincreased, and oxidation of the source gas is promoted; therefore, theoxygen content in the oxide insulating film 24 becomes higher than thatin the stoichiometric composition. On the other hand, in the film formedat a substrate temperature within the above temperature range, the bondbetween silicon and oxygen is weak, and accordingly, part of oxygen inthe film is released by heat treatment in the later step. Thus, it ispossible to form an oxide insulating film which contains oxygen at ahigher proportion than the stoichiometric composition and from whichpart of oxygen is released by heating. Further, the oxide insulatingfilm 23 is provided over the multilayer film 20. Accordingly, in thestep of forming the oxide insulating film 24, the oxide insulating film23 serves as a protective film of the multilayer film 20. Moreover, theoxide film 19 serves as a protective film of the oxide semiconductorfilm 18. Consequently, the oxide insulating film 24 can be formed usingthe high-frequency power having a high power density while damage to theoxide semiconductor film 18 is reduced.

Note that in the film formation conditions of the oxide insulating film24, the flow rate of the deposition gas containing silicon relative tothe oxidizing gas can be increased, whereby the amount of defects in theoxide insulating film 24 can be reduced. Typically, it is possible toform an oxide insulating film in which the amount of defects is small,i.e. the spin density of a signal which appears at g=2.001 originatingfrom a dangling bond of silicon is lower than 6×10¹⁷ spins/cm³, lowerthan or equal to 3×10¹⁷ spins/cm³, or lower than or equal to 1.5×10¹⁷spins/cm³ by ESR measurement. As a result, the reliability of thetransistor can be improved.

Here, as the oxide insulating film 24, a 400-nm-thick silicon oxynitridefilm is formed by a plasma CVD method in which silane with a flow rateof 200 sccm and dinitrogen monoxide with a flow rate of 4000 sccm areused as the source gas, the pressure in the treatment chamber is 200 Pa,the substrate temperature is 220° C., and the high-frequency power of1500 W is supplied to the parallel-plate electrodes with the use of a27.12 MHz high-frequency power source. Note that a plasma CVD apparatusused here is a parallel-plate plasma CVD apparatus in which theelectrode area is 6000 cm², and the power per unit area (power density)into which the supplied power is converted is 0.25 W/cm². Note that amethod for forming the oxide insulating film 24 is not limited to themethod using the 27.12 MHz high-frequency power source described in thisembodiment, and the oxide insulating film 24 may be formed using a 13.56MHz high-frequency power source, for example.

Next, second heat treatment is performed. The heat treatment isperformed typically at a temperature higher than or equal to 150° C. andlower than or equal to 300° C., or higher than or equal to 200° C. andlower than or equal to 250° C.

An electric furnace, an RTA apparatus, or the like can be used for theheat treatment. With the use of an RTA apparatus, the heat treatment canbe performed at a temperature higher than or equal to the strain pointof the substrate if the heating time is short. Therefore, the heattreatment time can be shortened.

The heat treatment may be performed under an atmosphere of nitrogen,oxygen, ultra-dry air (air in which a water content is 20 ppm or less, 1ppm or less, or 10 ppb or less), or a rare gas (argon, helium, or thelike). The atmosphere of nitrogen, oxygen, ultra-dry air, or a rare gaspreferably does not contain hydrogen, water, and the like.

By the heat treatment, part of oxygen contained in the oxide insulatingfilm 24 can be transferred to the oxide semiconductor film 18, so thatthe amount of oxygen vacancies contained in the oxide semiconductor film18 can be reduced.

Further, in the case where water, hydrogen, or the like is contained inthe oxide insulating film 23 and the oxide insulating film 24, when thenitride insulating film 25 having a function of blocking water,hydrogen, and the like is formed later and heat treatment is performed,water, hydrogen, or the like contained in the oxide insulating film 23and the oxide insulating film 24 are transferred to the oxidesemiconductor film 18, so that defects are generated in the oxidesemiconductor film 18. However, by the heating, water, hydrogen, or thelike contained in the oxide insulating film 23 and the oxide insulatingfilm 24 can be released; thus, variation in electrical characteristicsof the transistor 60 can be reduced, and change in threshold voltage canbe inhibited.

Note that when the oxide insulating film 24 is formed over the oxideinsulating film 23 while being heated, oxygen can be transferred to theoxide semiconductor film 18 to reduce the number of oxygen vacancies inthe oxide semiconductor film 18; thus, the heat treatment is notnecessarily performed.

Further, when the heat treatment is performed at a temperature higherthan or equal to 150° C. and lower than or equal to 300° C., or higherthan or equal to 200° C. and lower than or equal to 250° C., diffusionof copper, aluminum, gold, silver, molybdenum, or the like and entry ofthe element into the oxide semiconductor film can be inhibited.

Here, heat treatment is performed at 220° C. for one hour in anatmosphere of nitrogen and oxygen.

Further, when the pair of electrodes 21 and 22 is formed, the multilayerfilm 20 is damaged by the etching of the conductive film, so that oxygenvacancies are generated on the back channel side (the side of themultilayer film 20 which is opposite to the side facing to the gateelectrode 15) of the multilayer film 20. However, with the use of theoxide insulating film containing oxygen at a higher proportion than thestoichiometric composition as the oxide insulating film 24, the oxygenvacancies generated on the back channel side can be repaired by heattreatment. By this, defects contained in the multilayer film 20 can bereduced, and thus, the reliability of the transistor 60 can be improved.

Next, the nitride insulating film 25 is formed by a sputtering method, aCVD method, or the like.

Note that in the case where the nitride insulating film 25 is formed bya plasma CVD method, the substrate placed in the treatment chamber ofthe plasma CVD apparatus that is vacuum-evacuated is preferably set tobe higher than or equal to 300° C. and lower than or equal to 400° C.,or higher than or equal to 320° C. and lower than or equal to 370° C.,so that a dense nitride insulating film can be formed.

In the case where a silicon nitride film is formed by the plasma CVDmethod as the nitride insulating film 25, a deposition gas containingsilicon, nitrogen, and ammonia are preferably used as a source gas. Asthe source gas, a small amount of ammonia compared to the amount ofnitrogen is used, whereby ammonia is dissociated in the plasma andactivated species are generated. The activated species cleave a bondbetween silicon and hydrogen which are contained in a deposition gascontaining silicon and a triple bond between nitrogen molecules. As aresult, a dense silicon nitride film having few defects, in which a bondbetween silicon and nitrogen is promoted and a bond between silicon andhydrogen is few can be formed. On the other hand, when the amount ofammonia with respect to nitrogen is large in a source gas, cleavage of adeposition gas containing silicon and cleavage of nitrogen are notpromoted, so that a sparse silicon nitride film in which a bond betweensilicon and hydrogen remains and defects are increased is formed.Therefore, in a source gas, a flow ratio of the nitrogen to the ammoniais set to be greater than or equal to 5 and less than or equal to 50, orgreater than or equal to 10 and less than or equal to 50.

Here, in the treatment chamber of a plasma CVD apparatus, a 50-nm-thicksilicon nitride film is formed by a plasma CVD method in which silanewith a flow rate of 50 sccm, nitrogen with a flow rate of 5000 sccm, andammonia with a flow rate of 100 sccm are used as the source gas, thepressure in the treatment chamber is 100 Pa, the substrate temperatureis 350° C., and high-frequency power of 1000 W is supplied toparallel-plate electrodes with a high-frequency power supply of 27.12MHz. Note that the plasma CVD apparatus is a parallel-plate plasma CVDapparatus in which the electrode area is 6000 cm², and the power perunit area (power density) into which the supplied power is converted is1.7×10⁻¹ W/cm².

By the above-described steps, the protective film 26 including the oxideinsulating film 23, the oxide insulating film 24, and the nitrideinsulating film 25 can be formed.

Next, heat treatment may be performed. The heat treatment is performedtypically at a temperature higher than or equal to 150° C. and lowerthan or equal to 300° C., or higher than or equal to 200° C. and lowerthan or equal to 250° C.

Through the above-described process, the transistor 60 can bemanufactured.

In this embodiment, the oxide film formed using the CAAC oxide film isprovided between the oxide semiconductor film and the pair ofelectrodes. The oxide film can reduce diffusion of external impuritiesto the oxide semiconductor film, and can reduce the amount of impuritiesdiffused from the pair of electrodes to the oxide semiconductor film.Thus, even if the pair of electrodes is formed using copper, aluminum,gold, silver, or molybdenum, variation in the threshold voltage of thetransistor can be reduced.

Further, in this embodiment, the first heat treatment and the secondheat treatment are performed in the manufacturing process of thetransistor. By forming the multilayer film including the oxidesemiconductor film, the concentration of impurities in the oxidesemiconductor film can be reduced, and a carrier trap in defect statescan be prevented. As a result, even when each heat treatment isperformed at 400° C. or lower, it is possible to manufacture atransistor of which the amount of variation in threshold voltage isequivalent to that of a transistor subjected to heat treatment at a hightemperature. Consequently, the manufacturing cost of a semiconductordevice can be reduced.

Further, the oxide insulating film containing oxygen at a higherproportion than the stoichiometric composition is formed to overlap withthe oxide semiconductor film which serves as a channel region, and thus,oxygen in the oxide insulating film can be transferred to the oxidesemiconductor film. Consequently, the amount of oxygen vacancies in theoxide semiconductor film can be reduced.

In particular, the oxide insulating film which is permeable to oxygen isformed between the oxide semiconductor film serving as a channel regionand the oxide insulating film which contains oxygen at a higherproportion than the stoichiometric composition. Thus, damage to theoxide semiconductor film at the time of forming the oxide insulatingfilm which contains oxygen at a higher proportion than thestoichiometric composition can be suppressed. Consequently, the amountof oxygen vacancies in the oxide semiconductor film can be reduced.

When the oxide film is formed over the oxide semiconductor film, damageto the oxide semiconductor film at the time of forming the oxideinsulating film which contains oxygen at a higher proportion than thestoichiometric composition can be further suppressed. In addition, byforming the oxide film, entry of the constituent elements of aninsulating film formed over the oxide semiconductor film, e.g., theoxide insulating film, into the oxide semiconductor film can besuppressed.

From the above, as for a semiconductor device including an oxidesemiconductor film, a semiconductor device in which the amount ofdefects is reduced can be obtained. Further, as for a semiconductordevice including an oxide semiconductor film, a semiconductor devicewith improved electrical characteristics can be obtained.

<Diffusion Mechanism of Metal Element in Oxide Semiconductor Film>

Calculation results of a diffusion mechanism of a metal element in anoxide semiconductor film are shown below.

Here, calculation was performed on an In—Ga—Zn oxide film (hereinafter,referred to as IGZO (111)) formed as an oxide semiconductor film using asputtering target with a composition of In:Ga:Zn=1:1:1 in atomic ratio.Assuming that Cu was positioned as a metal element between lattices of acrystal included in the IGZO (111), calculation on how easily Cu isdiffused was performed.

A calculation model is shown in FIG. 4. There are four paths denoted byarrows in FIG. 4, which are diffusion paths of Cu. An activation barrierin each path was calculated by a nudged elastic band (NEB) method. InFIG. 4, each state is denoted by a number. The NEB method is a method ofsearching a state in which needed energy is the lowest in states fromthe initial state to the final state. Further, periodic boundaryconditions were used for the calculation model. In the oxidesemiconductor film, a direction parallel to a normal vector of aformation surface or a normal vector of a top surface is a c-axisdirection, and the direction is referred to as a vertical direction.Further, a direction perpendicular to the c-axis direction, that is, ana-b plane direction is referred to as a lateral direction.

Path 1 represents lateral diffusion of Cu between a (Ga,Zn)O layer and a(Ga,Zn)O layer, that is, transfer from the initial state to State 1 inFIG. 4.

Path 2 represents vertical diffusion of Cu passing through the (Ga,Zn)Olayer, that is, transfer from State 1 to State 2 in FIG. 4.

Path 3 represents lateral diffusion of Cu between the (Ga,Zn)O layer andan InO₂ layer, that is, transfer from State 2 to State 3 in FIG. 4.

Path 4 represents vertical diffusion of Cu passing through the InO₂layer, that is, transfer from State 3 to State 4 in FIG. 4.

Next, the calculation conditions are shown in Table 1.

TABLE 1 software VASP (Vienna Ab-initio Simulation Package) modelc-IGZO(111) crystal + Cu (113 atoms) exchange-correlation GGA/PBEpotential cut-off energy 500 eV K-point 2 × 2 × 3

Path 1, that is, a path with a low barrier in lateral diffusion of Cubetween the (Ga,Zn)O layer and the (Ga,Zn)O layer is illustrated in FIG.5A and an activation barrier is shown in FIG. 5B. As shown in FIG. 5B,Cu in the course of diffusion is more stable in terms of energy than Cubetween lattices. The activation barrier when Cu is transferred from astable state to a position between lattices is approximately 0.30 eV;thus, the lateral diffusion of Cu between the (Ga,Zn)O layer and the(Ga,Zn)O layer presumably occurs even at room temperature.

Path 2, that is, a path with a low barrier in vertical diffusion of Cupassing through the (Ga,Zn)O layer is illustrated in FIG. 6A and anactivation barrier is shown in FIG. 6B. As shown in FIG. 6B, Cu isunstable when Cu is in the (Ga,Zn)O layer, and the activation barrier insuch a state is approximately 0.71 eV. Thus, the vertical diffusion ofCu passing through the (Ga,Zn)O layer presumably hardly occurs at roomtemperature.

Path 3, that is, a path with a low barrier in lateral diffusion of Cubetween the (Ga,Zn)O layer and the InO₂ layer is illustrated in FIG. 7Aand an activation barrier is shown in FIG. 7B. As shown in FIG. 7B, Cuin the course of diffusion is more stable in terms of energy than Cubetween lattices. The activation barrier when Cu is transferred from astable state to a position between lattices is approximately 0.25 eV;thus, the lateral diffusion of Cu between the (Ga,Zn)O layer and theInO₂ layer presumably occurs even at room temperature.

Path 4, that is, a path with a low barrier in vertical diffusion of Cupassing through the InO₂ layer is illustrated in FIG. 8A and anactivation barrier is shown in FIG. 8B. As shown in FIG. 8B, Cu isunstable when in the InO₂ layer, and the activation barrier in such astate is approximately 1.90 eV. Thus, the vertical diffusion of Cupassing through the InO₂ layer presumably hardly occurs even at hightemperature.

The activation barriers in the arrows in FIG. 4, that is, the activationbarriers in the initial state, Path 1, Path 2, Path 3, and Path 4 areshown in FIG. 9. In FIG. 9, the horizontal axis indicates the movementdistance of Cu and the vertical axis indicates an activation barrier.

As shown in FIG. 9, Cu is stable in terms of energy when existingbetween the (Ga,Zn)O layer and the InO₂ layer, and the activationbarrier in Path 4 in which Cu passes through the InO₂ layer is thehighest. Thus, it is found that Cu is not easily diffused in a diffusionpath in which Cu passes through an InO₂ layer.

Here, as a comparative example, ZnO with a hexagonal crystal structurewas calculated in a manner similar to that of IGZO (111). The resultsare shown below.

A calculation model is shown in FIG. 10. Here, a 72-atom supercell inwhich a primitive lattice of ZnO crystal is doubled in all the axesdirections is used. There are two paths indicated by the arrows in FIG.10, which are diffusion paths of Cu. An activation barrier in each pathwas calculated by a NEB method.

Path 1 represents vertical diffusion of Cu in the c-axis direction, thatis, transfer from the initial state to State 1 in FIG. 10.

Path 2 represents lateral diffusion of Cu in the b-axis direction, thatis, transfer from State 1 to State 2 in FIG. 10.

Next, the calculation conditions are shown in Table 2.

TABLE 2 software VASP (Vienna Ab-initio Simulation Package) model ZnOcrystal + Cu (73 atoms) exchange-correlation GGA/PBE potential cut-offenergy 500 eV K-point 4 × 4 × 3

Path 1, that is, a diffusion path for Cu in vertical diffusion of Cu inthe c-axis direction seen from the direction perpendicular to the c axisis illustrated in FIG. 11A, a diffusion path of Cu seen from the c-axisdirection is illustrated in FIG. 11B, and an activation barrier is shownin FIG. 11C. As shown in FIG. 11C, Cu is unstable when in a planesurrounded by Zn atoms, and the activation barrier in such a case isapproximately 0.73 eV. Thus, the vertical diffusion of Cu in the c-axisdirection presumably hardly occurs at room temperature.

Path 2, that is, a diffusion path for Cu in lateral diffusion of Cu inthe b-axis direction seen from the direction perpendicular to the c axisis illustrated in FIG. 12A, a diffusion path for Cu seen from the c-axisdirection is illustrated in FIG. 12B, and an activation barrier is shownin FIG. 12C. As shown in FIG. 12C, Cu in the course of diffusion and ata position where a Cu atom is bonded to two O atoms is more stable interms of energy than Cu between lattices. The activation barrier when Cuis transferred from a stable state to a position between lattices isapproximately 0.32 eV; thus, the lateral diffusion of Cu in the b-axisdirection presumably occurs even at room temperature.

The activation barriers in the arrows in FIG. 10, that is, theactivation barriers in the initial state, Path 1, and Path 2 are shownin FIG. 13.

As shown in FIG. 13, Cu is stable in terms of energy in the course oflateral diffusion f Cu and at a position where a Cu atom is bonded totwo O atoms, and the activation barrier in vertical diffusion in thec-axis direction is the highest.

As compared with the activation barrier in Path 4 in FIG. 9, that is,the activation barrier when Cu passes through the InO₂ layer(approximately 1.9 eV), the activation barrier in Path 1 in FIG. 13,that is, the activation barrier in the vertical diffusion of Cu in ZnO(approximately 0.7 eV) is low. Thus, it is probable that an effect ofinhibiting Cu diffusion in the vertical direction in IGZO (111) ishigher than that in ZnO.

Thus, when a CAAC oxide film, which has c-axis alignment and in which agrain boundary is not found and the c-axes are aligned in a directionparallel to a normal vector of a formation surface or a normal vector ofa top surface, is provided between an oxide semiconductor film and apair of electrodes and the pair of electrodes is formed using Cu,diffusion of Cu to the oxide semiconductor film can be reduced in achannel-etched transistor.

<Band Structure of Transistor>

Next, a band structure of the multilayer film 20 is described withreference to FIGS. 3A and 3B.

Here, for example, In—Ga—Zn oxide having an energy gap of 3.15 eV isused as the oxide semiconductor film 18, and In—Ga—Zn oxide having anenergy gap of 3.5 eV is used as the oxide film 19. The energy gaps canbe measured using a spectroscopic ellipsometer (UT-300 manufactured byHORIBA JOBIN YVON SAS.).

The energy difference between the vacuum level and the top of thevalence band (also called ionization potential) of the oxidesemiconductor film 18 and the energy difference between the vacuum leveland the top of the valence band of the oxide film 19 were 8 eV and 8.2eV, respectively. Note that the energy difference between the vacuumlevel and the valence band top can be measured using an ultravioletphotoelectron spectroscopy (UPS) device (VersaProbe manufactured byULVAC-PHI, Inc.).

Thus, the energy difference between the vacuum level and the bottom ofthe conduction band (also called electron affinity) of the oxidesemiconductor film 18 and the energy gap therebetween of the oxide film19 were 4.85 eV and 4.7 eV, respectively.

FIG. 3A schematically illustrates a part of the band structure of themultilayer film 20. Here, the case where a silicon oxide film isprovided in contact with the multilayer film 20 will be described. InFIG. 3A, EcI1 denotes the energy of the bottom of the conduction band inthe silicon oxide film; EcS1 denotes the energy of the bottom of theconduction band in the oxide semiconductor film 18; EcS2 denotes theenergy of the bottom of the conduction band in the oxide film 19; andEcI2 denotes the energy of the bottom of the conduction band in thesilicon oxide film. Further, EcI1 and EcI2 correspond to the gateinsulating film 17 and the oxide insulating film 23 in FIG. 1B,respectively.

As illustrated in FIG. 3A, there is no energy barrier between the oxidesemiconductor film 18 and the oxide film 19, and the energy level of thebottom of the conduction band gradually changes therebetween. In otherwords, the energy level of the bottom of the conduction band iscontinuously changed. This is because the multilayer film 20 contains anelement contained in the oxide semiconductor film 18 and oxygen istransferred between the oxide semiconductor film 18 and the oxide film19, so that a mixed layer is formed.

As shown in FIG. 3A, the oxide semiconductor film 18 in the multilayerfilm 20 serves as a well and a channel region of the transistorincluding the multilayer film 20 is formed in the oxide semiconductorfilm 18. Note that since the energy of the bottom of the conduction bandof the multilayer film 20 is continuously changed, it can be said thatthe oxide semiconductor film 18 and the oxide film 19 are continuous.

Although trap states due to defects or impurities such as silicon orcarbon, which is a constituent element of the insulating film 23, andsuch as copper, aluminum, gold, silver, or molybdenum, which is aconstituent element of the pair of electrodes 21 and 22, might be formedin the vicinity of the interface between the oxide film 19 and the oxideinsulating film 23 as shown in FIG. 3A, the oxide semiconductor film 18can be distanced from the trap states owing to existence of the oxidefilm 19. However, when the energy difference between EcS1 and EcS2 issmall, an electron in the oxide semiconductor film 18 might reach thetrap state by passing over the energy difference. By being trapped inthe trap state, a negative fixed charge is generated at the interfacewith the insulating film, whereby the threshold voltage of thetransistor is shifted in the positive direction. Therefore, it ispreferable that the energy difference between EcS1 and EcS2 be 0.1 eV ormore, or 0.15 eV or more, because a change in the threshold voltage ofthe transistor is reduced and stable electrical characteristics areobtained.

FIG. 3B schematically illustrates a part of the band structure of themultilayer film 20, which is a variation of the band structure shown inFIG. 3A. Here, a structure where silicon oxide films provided in contactwith the multilayer film 20 is described. In FIG. 3B, EcI1 denotes theenergy of the bottom of the conduction band in the silicon oxide film;EcS1 denotes the energy of the bottom of the conduction band in theoxide semiconductor film 18; and EcI2 denotes the energy of the bottomof the conduction band in the silicon oxide film. Further, EcI1corresponds to the gate insulating film 17 in FIG. 1B, and EcI2corresponds to the oxide insulating film 23 in FIG. 1B.

In the transistor illustrated in FIG. 1B, an upper portion of themultilayer film 20, that is, the oxide film 19 might be etched information of the pair of electrodes 21 and 22. Further, a mixed layer ofthe oxide semiconductor film 18 and the oxide film 19 is likely to beformed on the top surface of the oxide semiconductor film 18 information of the oxide film 19.

For example, when the oxide semiconductor film 18 is an oxidesemiconductor film formed with use of, as a sputtering target, In—Ga—Znoxide whose atomic ratio of In to Ga and Zn is 1:1:1 or In—Ga—Zn oxidewhose atomic ratio of In to Ga and Zn is 3:1:2, and an oxide film 19 isan oxide film formed with use of, as a sputtering target, In—Ga—Zn oxidewhose atomic ratio of In to Ga and Zn is 1:3:2 or In—Ga—Zn oxide whoseatomic ratio of In to Ga and Zn is 1:6:4, the Ga content in the oxidefilm 19 is higher than that in the oxide semiconductor film 18. Thus, aGaOx layer or a mixed layer whose Ga content is higher than that in theoxide semiconductor film 18 can be formed on the top surface of theoxide semiconductor film 18.

For that reason, even in the case where the oxide film 19 is etched, theenergy of the bottom of the conduction band of EcS1 on the EcI2 side isincreased and the band structure shown in FIG. 3B can be obtained insome cases.

As in the band structure shown in FIG. 3B, in observation of a crosssection of a channel region, only the oxide semiconductor film 18 in themultilayer film 20 is apparently observed in some cases. However, amixed layer that contains Ga more than the oxide semiconductor film 18does is formed over the oxide semiconductor film 18 in fact, and thusthe mixed layer can be regarded as a 1.5-th layer. Note that the mixedlayer can be confirmed by analyzing a composition in the upper portionof the oxide semiconductor film 18, when the elements contained in themultilayer film 20 are measured by an EDX analysis, for example. Themixed layer can be confirmed, for example, in such a manner that the Gacontent in the composition in the upper portion of the oxidesemiconductor film 18 is larger than the Ga content in the oxidesemiconductor film 18.

Modification Example 1

A modification example of the multilayer film 20 of the transistor 60 inthis embodiment is described with reference to FIGS. 14A and 14B.

In the multilayer film 20 of a transistor illustrated in FIG. 14A, afirst oxide semiconductor film 18 a, a second oxide semiconductor film18 b, and the oxide film 19 are stacked in this order from the gateinsulating film 17 side.

The first oxide semiconductor film 18 a and the second oxidesemiconductor film 18 b are each formed using a material similar to thatof the above-described oxide semiconductor film 18. In the case wherethe first oxide semiconductor film 18 a and the second oxidesemiconductor film 18 b are each formed using an In-M-Zn oxide (M is Ga,Y, Zr, La, Ce, or Nd), an atomic ratio of In to M in the first oxidesemiconductor film 18 a is preferably higher than that in the secondoxide semiconductor film 18 b. In an In-M-Zn oxide, when an atomic ratioof In to M is high, in other words, the proportion of In is high,carrier mobility (electron mobility) is high. Thus, when the proportionof In in the first oxide semiconductor film 18 a in contact with thegate insulating film 17 is higher, the on-state current and thefield-effect mobility of the transistor can be increased.

Further, when the first oxide semiconductor film 18 a is formed using aCAAC-OS film, diffusion of external impurities can be reduced, andaccordingly, the amount of impurities which are transferred from theoutside to the first oxide semiconductor film 18 a and the second oxidesemiconductor film 18 b can be reduced.

In the multilayer film 20 of a transistor illustrated in FIG. 14B, afirst oxide film 19 a, the oxide semiconductor film 18, and a secondoxide film 19 b are stacked in this order from the gate insulating film17 side.

The first oxide film 19 a and the second oxide film 19 b are each formedusing a material similar to that of the oxide film 19 in Embodiment 1.Note that the atomic ratios of metal elements included in the firstoxide film 19 a and the second oxide film 19 b may be the same ordifferent from each other.

It is preferable that the thickness of the first oxide film 19 a besmaller than that of the oxide semiconductor film 18. When the thicknessof the first oxide film 19 a is greater than or equal to 1 nm and lessthan or equal to 5 nm, or greater than or equal to 1 nm and less than orequal to 3 nm, the amount of change in threshold voltage of thetransistor can be reduced.

In the transistor in FIG. 14B, the first oxide film 19 a is providedbetween the gate insulating film 17 and the oxide semiconductor film 18.Hence, if trap states are formed between the first oxide film 19 a andthe oxide semiconductor film 18 owing to impurities and defects,electrons flowing in the oxide semiconductor film 18 are less likely tobe captured by the trap states because there is a distance between thetrap states and the oxide semiconductor film 18. Accordingly, the amountof on-state current of the transistor can be increased, and thefield-effect mobility can be increased. When the electrons are capturedby the trap states, the electrons become negative fixed charges. As aresult, a threshold voltage of the transistor varies. However, by thedistance between the oxide semiconductor film 18 and the trap states,capture of the electrons by the trap states can be reduced, andaccordingly a fluctuation of the threshold voltage can be reduced.

Further, when the first oxide film 19 a is formed using a CAAC oxidefilm, diffusion of external impurities can be reduced, and accordingly,the amount of impurities which are transferred from the outside to theoxide semiconductor film 18 can be reduced. Consequently, the impurityconcentration in the oxide semiconductor film 18 can be reduced.

Modification Example 2

As for the pair of electrodes 21 and 22 provided in the transistor 60described in this embodiment, it is preferable to use a conductivematerial which is easily bonded to oxygen, such as copper, aluminum, andmolybdenum, or an alloy thereof. Thus, oxygen contained in themultilayer film 20 and the conductive material contained in the pair ofelectrodes 21 and 22 are bonded to each other, so that an oxygendeficient region is formed in the multilayer film 20. Further, in somecases, part of constituent elements of the conductive material thatforms the pair of electrodes 21 and 22 is mixed into the multilayer film20. Consequently, low-resistance regions are formed in the vicinity ofregions of the multilayer film 20 which are in contact with the pair ofelectrodes 21 and 22. The low-resistance regions are formed between thegate insulating film 17 and the pair of electrodes 21 and 22 so as to bein contact with the pair of electrodes 21 and 22. Since thelow-resistance regions have high conductivity, contact resistancebetween the multilayer film 20 and the pair of electrodes 21 and 22 canbe reduced, and thus, the on-state current of the transistor can beincreased.

Further, the pair of electrodes 21 and 22 may each have a stacked-layerstructure of the conductive material which is easily bonded to oxygenand a conductive material which is not easily bonded to oxygen, such astitanium nitride, tantalum nitride, or ruthenium. For example, aconductive film may be formed to be in contact with the multilayer film20 by using a conductive material which is not easily bonded to oxygen,and a conductive film may be formed over the conductive film by using aconductive material which is easily bonded to oxygen. With such astacked-layer structure, oxidization of the pair of electrodes 21 and 22can be prevented at the interface between the pair of electrodes 21 and22 and the oxide insulating film 23, so that the increase of theresistance of the pair of electrodes 21 and 22 can be inhibited.

Modification Example 3

As illustrated in FIG. 15, over the transistor 60 in this embodiment, aprotective film 26 a in which the oxide insulating film 24 and thenitride insulating film 25 are stacked can be provided. In thetransistor in FIG. 15, the oxide film 19 is provided over the oxidesemiconductor film 18; thus, the oxide film 19 functions as a protectivefilm at the time of formation of the oxide insulating film 24. As aresult, when the oxide insulating film 24 is formed, the oxidesemiconductor film 18 is not exposed to plasma, and plasma damage whichis generated at the time of forming the oxide insulating film 24 by aplasma CVD method with relatively high power can be reduced.

Further, oxygen contained in the oxide insulating film 24 can bedirectly transferred to the multilayer film 20; thus, the amount ofoxygen supplied to the oxide semiconductor film 18 can be increased. Asa result, the number of oxygen vacancies in the oxide semiconductor film18 can be further reduced.

Note that in this embodiment, the multilayer film is a stacked film ofthe oxide semiconductor film 18 and the oxide film 19; however, an oxidefilm can be further provided between the gate insulating film 17 and theoxide semiconductor film 18. By providing the oxide film between thegate insulating film 17 and the oxide semiconductor film 18, it ispossible to reduce the concentration of silicon and carbon in thevicinity of the interface between the gate insulating film 17 and themultilayer film and the concentration of silicon and carbon in the oxidesemiconductor film 18.

Modification Example 4

Although a bottom-gate transistor in which the gate electrode 15 isprovided between the substrate 11 and the multilayer film 20 isdescribed in this embodiment, as illustrated in FIG. 32A, a top-gatetransistor can also be used. That is, a transistor 62, in which the pairof electrodes 21 and 22 is provided over the multilayer film 20, a gateinsulating film 27 is provided over the pair of electrodes 21 and 22,and a gate electrode 15 a is provided over the gate insulating film 27,can be formed. Note that the oxide insulating film 17 c in contact withthe multilayer film 20 and the nitride insulating film 17 a in contactwith the oxide insulating film 17 c and the pair of electrodes 21 and 22are provided between the substrate 11 and the multilayer film 20.Further, as illustrated in FIG. 32B, a dual-gate transistor 64 includingthe gate electrode 15, the gate insulating film 17 over the gateelectrode 15, the multilayer film 20 over the gate insulating film 17,the pair of electrodes 21 and 22 over the multilayer film 20, theprotective film 26 over the multilayer film 20 and the pair ofelectrodes 21 and 22, and the gate electrode 15 a over the protectivefilm 26 can be formed.

Embodiment 2

In this embodiment, a semiconductor device including a transistor inwhich diffusion of a metal element included in the pair of electrodes 21and 22 can be prevented and a manufacturing method thereof are describedwith reference to FIGS. 2A to 2C, FIGS. 16A to 16C, and FIGS. 17A to17D.

FIGS. 16A to 16C are a top view and cross-sectional views of atransistor 70 included in a semiconductor device. The transistor 70shown in FIGS. 16A to 16C is a channel-etched transistor. FIG. 16A is atop view of the transistor 70, FIG. 16B is a cross-sectional view takenalong dashed-dotted line A-B of FIG. 16A, and FIG. 16C is across-sectional view taken along dashed-dotted line C-D of FIG. 16A.Note that in FIG. 16A, the substrate 11, some components of thetransistor 70 (e.g., the gate insulating film 17), the oxide insulatingfilm 23, the oxide insulating film 24, the nitride insulating film 25,and the like are not illustrated for clarity.

The transistor 70 illustrated in FIGS. 16B and 16C includes the gateelectrode 15 over the substrate 11, the gate insulating film 17 over thesubstrate 11 and the gate electrode 15, the multilayer film 20overlapping with the gate electrode 15 with the gate insulating film 17provided therebetween, and the pair of electrodes 21 and 22 in contactwith the multilayer film 20. Furthermore, protective films 43 and 44 areprovided over the pair of electrodes 21 and 22. The protective film 26including the oxide insulating film 23, the oxide insulating film 24,and the nitride insulating film 25 is formed over the gate insulatingfilm 17, the multilayer film 20, the pair of electrodes 21 and 22, andthe protective films 43 and 44.

The protective films 43 and 44 function as etching protective films in aprocessing step for forming the pair of electrodes 21 and 22. Further,the protective films 43 and 44 can prevent the pair of electrodes 21 and22 from being exposed to plasma, typically, oxygen plasma. Further, theprotective films 43 and 44 can prevent diffusion of the metal elementincluded in the pair of electrodes 21 and 22. Thus, the protective films43 and 44 are formed using a material with plasma resistance. Further,the protective films 43 and 44 are formed using a material whichprevents diffusion of the metal element included in the pair ofelectrodes 21 and 22.

The protective films 43 and 44 can be formed using a nitride insulatingfilm formed of silicon nitride, silicon nitride oxide, aluminum nitride,aluminum nitride oxide, or the like as appropriate. Note that in thisspecification, a “silicon nitride oxide film” and an “aluminum nitrideoxide film” refer to films in which the content (atomic ratio) ofnitrogen is higher than that of oxygen and a “silicon oxynitride film”and an “aluminum oxynitride film” refer to films in which the content(atomic ratio) of oxygen is higher than that of nitrogen.

Alternatively, the protective films 43 and 44 can be formed using alight-transmitting conductive film formed of indium tin oxide(hereinafter also referred to as ITO), indium oxide containing tungstenoxide, indium zinc oxide containing tungsten oxide, indium oxidecontaining titanium oxide, indium tin oxide containing titanium oxide,indium zinc oxide, indium tin oxide containing silicon oxide, or thelike.

Alternatively, the protective films 43 and 44 can be formed using anoxide semiconductor containing In, Ga, or Zn which can be used for theoxide semiconductor film 18 or the oxide film 19 in Embodiment 1 asappropriate.

In the case where the protective films 43 and 44 are formed using alight-transmitting conductive film, the protective films 43 and 44 eachfunction as an electrode together with the electrodes 21 and 22,respectively.

A mask formed of an organic resin (typically, a mask formed of a resist)used for formation of the pair of electrodes 21 and 22 is removed byashing treatment in which the mask is decomposed in a gas phase byoxygen plasma. Alternatively, the mask formed of the organic resin canbe removed using a stripper after the ashing treatment because theashing treatment facilitates mask removal using the stripper.

In the case where an oxide insulating film as a protective film isformed over the pair of electrodes 21 and 22 by a sputtering method, aCVD method, or the like, the electrodes 21 and 22 are exposed to oxygenplasma.

When the pair of electrodes 21 and 22 is exposed to oxygen plasma, themetal element included in the pair of electrodes 21 and 22 reacts withoxygen to form a metal oxide. There is a problem in that the metal oxideis diffused into the multilayer film 20 because of its high reactivity.Thus, in the case where the protective films 43 and 44 are provided overthe pair of electrodes 21 and 22, the protective films 43 and 44function as masks and the pair of electrodes 21 and 22 is not easilyexposed to oxygen plasma. As a result, the metal oxide in which oxygenand the metal element included in the pair of electrodes 21 and 22 arereacted with each other is not easily generated and the transfer of themetal element included in the pair of electrodes 21 and 22 to themultilayer film 20 can be inhibited.

That is, the concentration of impurities in the multilayer film 20 canbe reduced. Further, variation in electrical characteristics of thetransistor 70 including the multilayer film 20 can be reduced.

Next, a method for manufacturing the transistor 70 in FIGS. 16A to 16Cis described with reference to FIGS. 2A to 2C and FIGS. 17A to 17D.

Through the steps of FIG. 2A to FIG. 2C in a manner similar to that inEmbodiment 1, the gate electrode 15, the gate insulating film 17, themultilayer film 20, a conductive film 41, and a protective film 42 areformed over the substrate 11, as illustrated in FIG. 17A.

The conductive film 41 is to be the pair of electrodes 21 and 22 later.Thus, for the conductive film 41, the material of the pair of electrodes21 and 22 can be used as appropriate.

The conductive film 41 is formed by a sputtering method, an evaporationmethod, a CVD method, a printing method, or the like, as appropriate.

Here, a 200-nm-thick copper film is formed as the conductive film 41 bya sputtering method. Further, as the protective film 42, a 200-nm-thicksilicon nitride film is formed by a plasma CVD method.

After a mask is formed over the protective film 42, part of theprotective film 42 is etched using the mask, so that the protectivefilms 43 and 44 are formed as illustrated in FIG. 17B. The protectivefilm 42 can be etched by dry etching, wet etching, or the like, asappropriate. Note that the protective films 43 and 44 serve as hardmasks in a later step and the distance between the protective film 43and the protective film 44 is a channel length of the transistor; thus,the protective film 42 is preferably etched by dry etching by whichanisotropic etching can be conducted.

Here, after the mask is formed in a photolithography process, part ofthe protective film 42 is etched by a dry etching method, whereby theprotective films 43 and 44 are formed.

After that, the mask is preferably removed. As a result, in the step ofremoving the mask, the multilayer film 20 is covered with the conductivefilm 41 and is not exposed; thus, the metal element included in theconductive film 41 is not transferred to the multilayer film 20. Here,the mask is subjected to ashing treatment for ease of removal, and thenthe mask is removed using the resist stripper.

Next, as illustrated in FIG. 17C, part of the conductive film 41 isetched using the protective films 43 and 44 as masks, whereby the pairof electrodes 21 and 22 is formed. For the etching condition in whichthe protective films 43 and 44 are not etched and the conductive film 41is selectively etched, acetic acid, perchloric acid, a mixed solution ofphosphoric acid, acetic acid, and nitric acid (an aluminum etchant), orthe like can be used as appropriate.

Here, the conductive film 41 is selectively etched by a wet etchingmethod using a mixed solution of hydrogen peroxide, ammonium acetate,malonic acid, ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid, and 5-amino-1H-tetrazolemonohydrate as an etchant.

Note that after the pair of electrodes 21 and 22 is formed, an etchingstep to remove the metal element which remains on the multilayer film 20is preferably added. For example, it is preferable that the pair ofelectrodes 21 and 22 and the protective films 43 and 44 be not etched,and the surface of the multilayer film 20 be etched by severalnanometers, for example, 1 nm to 5 nm. For such an etching condition,hydrofluoric acid, a mixed solution of hydrofluoric acid and ammoniumfluoride (also referred to as buffered hydrofluoric acid), a mixedsolution of ammonia and hydrogen peroxide water (also referred to as anammonia hydrogen peroxide mixture), or the like can be used.

Here, by using an etchant of hydrofluoric acid diluted to 1/1000 of 0.5%dilute hydrofluoric acid, the metal element included in the pair ofelectrodes 21 and 22 are removed from the surface of the multilayer film20.

In the process of forming the pair of electrodes 21 and 22 and theprocess of removing the metal element included in the pair of electrodes21 and 22 from the surface of the multilayer film 20, the metal elementincluded in the pair of electrodes 21 and 22 is not diffused into theoxide semiconductor film 18, because a film in contact with the pair ofelectrodes 21 and 22, here, the oxide film 19, is formed using a CAACoxide film. As a result, the concentration of impurities in the oxidesemiconductor film 18 can be reduced.

Next, the protective film 26 is formed over the multilayer film 20, thepair of electrodes 21 and 22, and the pair of protective films 43 and 44as illustrated in FIG. 17D in a manner similar to that in Embodiment 1.

Through the above process, the transistor 70 can be manufactured.

In the transistor in this embodiment, the protective films 43 and 44 areprovided over the pair of electrodes. In the pair of electrodes, an areaexposed to plasma, for example, oxygen plasma, can be reduced. As aresult, generation of a compound of the metal element included in theconductive film due to plasma irradiation can be inhibited; thus, themetal element included in the conductive film is not easily transferredto the multilayer film.

Further, the oxide film formed of the CAAC oxide film is providedbetween the oxide semiconductor film and the pair of electrodes.Diffusion of impurities from the outside can be inhibited by the oxidefilm, and accordingly, the amount of impurities which are transferredfrom the pair of electrodes to the oxide semiconductor film can bereduced. Thus, even when the pair of electrodes is formed using copper,aluminum, gold, silver, or molybdenum, variation in the thresholdvoltage of the transistor can be reduced.

As a result, diffusion of impurities such as copper, aluminum, gold,silver, and molybdenum which are constituent elements of the wiring andthe electrode into the oxide semiconductor film included in themultilayer film can be inhibited. Further, the concentration ofimpurities in the oxide semiconductor film can be reduced.

In this manner, a semiconductor device with improved electricalcharacteristics can be obtained. Further, a highly reliablesemiconductor device can be obtained.

Modification Example 1

Although a bottom-gate transistor in which the gate electrode 15 isprovided between the substrate 11 and the multilayer film 20 isdescribed in this embodiment, as illustrated in FIG. 33A, a top-gatetransistor can also be used. That is, a transistor 72, in which the pairof electrodes 21 and 22 is provided over the multilayer film 20, theprotective films 43 and 44 are provided over the pair of electrodes 21and 22, the gate insulating film 27 is provided over the pair ofelectrodes 21 and 22 and the protective films 43 and 44, and the gateelectrode 15 a is provided over the gate insulating film 27, can beformed. Note that the oxide insulating film 17 c in contact with themultilayer film 20 and the nitride insulating film 17 a in contact withthe oxide insulating film 17 c and the pair of electrodes 21 and 22 areprovided between the substrate 11 and the multilayer film 20. Further,as illustrated in FIG. 33B, a dual-gate transistor 74 including the gateelectrode 15, the gate insulating film 17 over the gate electrode 15,the multilayer film 20 over the gate insulating film 17, the pair ofelectrodes 21 and 22 over the multilayer film 20, the protective films43 and 44 over the pair of electrodes 21 and 22, the protective film 26over the multilayer film 20, the pair of electrodes 21 and 22, and theprotective films 43 and 44, and the gate electrode 15 a over theprotective film 26 can be formed.

Embodiment 3

In this embodiment, a semiconductor device of one embodiment of thepresent invention is described with reference to drawings. Note that inthis embodiment, a semiconductor device of one embodiment of the presentinvention is described taking a display device as an example.

FIG. 18A illustrates an example of a semiconductor device. Thesemiconductor device in FIG. 18A includes a pixel portion 101, a scanline driver circuit 104, a signal line driver circuit 106, m scan lines107 which are arranged in parallel or substantially in parallel andwhose potentials are controlled by the scan line driver circuit 104, andn signal lines 109 which are arranged in parallel or substantially inparallel and whose potentials are controlled by the signal line drivercircuit 106. Further, the pixel portion 101 includes a plurality ofpixels 301 arranged in a matrix. Furthermore, capacitor lines 115arranged in parallel or substantially in parallel are provided along thesignal lines 109. Note that the capacitor lines 115 may be arranged inparallel or substantially in parallel along the scan lines 107. The scanline driver circuit 104 and the signal line driver circuit 106 arecollectively referred to as a driver circuit portion in some cases.

Each scan line 107 is electrically connected to the n pixels 301 in thecorresponding row among the pixels 301 arranged in m rows and n columnsin the pixel portion 101. Each signal line 109 is electrically connectedto the m pixels 301 in the corresponding column among the pixels 301arranged in m rows and n columns. Note that m and n are each an integerof 1 or more. Each capacitor line 115 is electrically connected to the mpixels 301 in the corresponding column among the pixels 301 arranged inm rows and n columns. Note that in the case where the capacitor lines115 are arranged in parallel or substantially in parallel along the scanlines 107, each capacitor line 115 is electrically connected to the npixels 301 in the corresponding row among the pixels 301 arranged in mrows and n columns.

FIGS. 18B and 18C illustrate circuit configurations that can be used forthe pixels 301 in the display device illustrated in FIG. 18A.

The pixel 301 illustrated in FIG. 18B includes a liquid crystal element132, a transistor 131_1, and a capacitor 133_1.

The potential of one of a pair of electrodes of the liquid crystalelement 132 is set according to the specifications of the pixels 301 asappropriate. The alignment state of the liquid crystal element 132depends on written data. A common potential may be applied to one of thepair of electrodes of the liquid crystal element 132 included in each ofthe plurality of pixels 301. Further, the potential supplied to one of apair of electrodes of the liquid crystal element 132 in the pixel 301 inone row may be different from the potential supplied to one of a pair ofelectrodes of the liquid crystal element 132 in the pixel 301 in anotherrow.

As examples of a driving method of the display device including theliquid crystal element 132, any of the following modes can be given: aTN mode, an STN mode, a VA mode, an ASM (axially symmetric alignedmicro-cell) mode, an OCB (optically compensated birefringence) mode, anFLC (ferroelectric liquid crystal) mode, an AFLC (antiferroelectricliquid crystal) mode, an MVA mode, a PVA (patterned vertical alignment)mode, an IPS mode, an FFS mode, a TBA (transverse bend alignment) mode,and the like. Other examples of the driving method of the display deviceinclude ECB (electrically controlled birefringence) mode, PDLC (polymerdispersed liquid crystal) mode, PNLC (polymer network liquid crystal)mode, and a guest-host mode. Note that the present invention is notlimited to these examples, and various liquid crystal elements anddriving methods can be applied to the liquid crystal element and thedriving method thereof.

The liquid crystal element may be formed using a liquid crystalcomposition including liquid crystal exhibiting a blue phase and achiral material. The liquid crystal exhibiting a blue phase has a shortresponse time of 1 msec or less and is optically isotropic; therefore,alignment treatment is not necessary and viewing angle dependence issmall.

In the pixel 301 in the m-th row and the n-th column, one of a sourceelectrode and a drain electrode of the transistor 131_1 is electricallyconnected to a signal line DL_n, and the other is electrically connectedto the other of a pair of electrodes of the liquid crystal element 132.A gate electrode of the transistor 131_1 is electrically connected to ascan line GL_m. The transistor 131_1 has a function of controllingwhether to write a data signal by being turned on or off.

One of a pair of electrodes of the capacitor 133_1 is electricallyconnected to a wiring to which a potential is supplied (hereinafterreferred to as a capacitor line CL), and the other is electricallyconnected to the other of the pair of electrodes of the liquid crystalelement 132. The potential of the capacitor line CL is set in accordancewith the specifications of the pixel 301 as appropriate. The capacitor133_1 functions as a storage capacitor for storing written data.

For example, in the display device including the pixel 301 in FIG. 18B,the pixels 301 are sequentially selected row by row by the scan linedriver circuit 104, whereby the transistors 131_1 are turned on and adata signal is written.

When the transistors 131_1 are turned off, the pixels 301 in which thedata has been written are brought into a holding state. This operationis sequentially performed row by row; thus, an image is displayed.

The pixel 301 illustrated in FIG. 18C includes a transistor 131_2, acapacitor 133_2, a transistor 134, and a light-emitting element 135.

One of a source electrode and a drain electrode of the transistor 1312is electrically connected to a wiring to which a data signal is supplied(hereinafter referred to as signal line DL_n). A gate electrode of thetransistor 131_2 is electrically connected to a wiring to which a gatesignal is supplied (hereinafter referred to as scan line GL_m).

The transistor 131_2 has a function of controlling whether to write adata signal by being turned on or off.

One of a pair of electrodes of the capacitor 133_2 is electricallyconnected to a wiring to which a potential is supplied (hereinafterreferred to as a potential supply line VL_a), and the other iselectrically connected to the other of the source electrode and thedrain electrode of the transistor 1312.

The capacitor 133_2 functions as a storage capacitor for storing writtendata.

One of a source electrode and a drain electrode of the transistor 134 iselectrically connected to the potential supply line VL_a. Further, agate electrode of the transistor 134 is electrically connected to theother of the source electrode and the drain electrode of the transistor1312.

One of an anode and a cathode of the light-emitting element 135 iselectrically connected to a potential supply line VL_b, and the other iselectrically connected to the other of the source electrode and thedrain electrode of the transistor 134.

As the light-emitting element 135, an organic electroluminescent element(also referred to as an organic EL element) or the like can be used, forexample. Note that the light-emitting element 135 is not limited toorganic EL elements; an inorganic EL element including an inorganicmaterial can be used.

A high power supply potential VDD is supplied to one of the potentialsupply line VL_a and the potential supply line VL_b, and a low powersupply potential VSS is supplied to the other.

In the display device including the pixel 301 in FIG. 18C, the pixels301 are sequentially selected row by row by the scan line driver circuit104, whereby the transistors 131_2 are turned on and a data signal iswritten.

When the transistors 131_2 are turned off, the pixels 301 in which thedata has been written are brought into a holding state. Further, theamount of current flowing between the source electrode and the drainelectrode of the transistor 134 is controlled in accordance with thepotential of the written data signal. The light-emitting element 135emits light with a luminance corresponding to the amount of flowingcurrent. This operation is sequentially performed row by row; thus, animage is displayed.

Next, a specific example of a liquid crystal display device including aliquid crystal element in the pixel 301 is described. FIG. 19 is a topview of the pixel 301 illustrated in FIG. 18B. Note that in FIG. 19, acounter electrode and a liquid crystal element are omitted.

In FIG. 19, a conductive film 304 c serving as a scan line extendssubstantially perpendicularly to the signal line (in the horizontaldirection in the drawing). A conductive film 310 d serving as a signalline extends substantially perpendicularly to the scan line (in thevertical direction in the drawing). A conductive film 310 f serving as acapacitor line extends in parallel to the signal line. Note that theconductive film 304 c serving as a scan line is electrically connectedto the scan line driver circuit 104 (see FIG. 18A), and the conductivefilm 310 d serving as a signal line and the conductive film 310 fserving as a capacitor line are electrically connected to the signalline driver circuit 106 (see FIG. 18A).

The transistor 103 is provided at a region where the scan line and thesignal line cross each other. The transistor 103 includes the conductivefilm 304 c serving as a gate electrode; the gate insulating film (notillustrated in FIG. 19); a multilayer film 308 b where a channel regionis formed, over the gate insulating film; and the conductive films 310 dand 310 e serving as a source electrode and a drain electrode. Theconductive film 304 c also serves as a scan line, and a region of theconductive film 304 c that overlaps with the multilayer film 308 bserves as the gate electrode of the transistor 103. In addition, theconductive film 310 d also serves as a signal line, and a region of theconductive film 310 d that overlaps with the multilayer film 308 bserves as the source electrode or drain electrode of the transistor 103.Further, in the top view of FIG. 19, an end portion of the scan line islocated on the outer side than an end portion of the multilayer film 308b. Thus, the scan line functions as a light-blocking film for blockinglight from a light source such as a backlight. For this reason, themultilayer film 308 b included in the transistor is not irradiated withlight, so that a variation in the electrical characteristics of thetransistor can be suppressed.

The conductive film 310 e is electrically connected to thelight-transmitting conductive film 316 b that serves as a pixelelectrode, through an opening 362 c.

The capacitor 105 is connected to the conductive film 310 f serving as acapacitor line through an opening 362. The capacitor 105 includes a film308 c having conductivity formed over the gate insulating film, adielectric film formed of a nitride insulating film formed over thetransistor 103, and a light-transmitting conductive film 316 b servingas a pixel electrode. The film 308 c having conductivity has alight-transmitting property; thus, the capacitor 105 has alight-transmitting property.

Thanks to the light-transmitting property of the capacitor 105, thecapacitor 105 can be formed large (covers a large area) in the pixel301. Thus, a semiconductor device having charge capacity increased whileimproving the aperture ratio, typically, to 50% or more, 55% or more, or60% or more can be obtained. For example, in a semiconductor device witha high resolution such as a liquid crystal display device, the area of apixel is small and thus the area of a capacitor is also small. For thisreason, the charge capacity of the capacitor is small. However, sincethe capacitor 105 of this embodiment has a light-transmitting property,when it is provided in a pixel, enough charge capacity can be obtainedin the pixel and the aperture ratio can be improved. Typically, thecapacitor 105 can be favorably used in a high-resolution semiconductordevice with a pixel density of 200 ppi or more, or furthermore, 300 ppior more.

The pixel 301 illustrated in FIG. 19 has a shape in which a sideparallel to the conductive film 304 c serving as a scan line is longerthan a side parallel to the conductive film 310 d serving as a signalline and the conductive film 310 f serving as a capacitor line extendsin parallel to the conductive film 310 d serving as a signal line. As aresult, the area where the conductive film 310 f occupies the pixel 301can be decreased, thereby increasing the aperture ratio. The conductivefilm 310 f serving as a capacitor line is in direct contact with thefilm 308 c having conductivity without a connection electrode. The film308 c having conductivity has a light-transmitting property, therebyfurther increasing the aperture ratio.

Further, according to one embodiment of the present invention, theaperture ratio can be improved even in a display device with a highresolution, which makes it possible to use light from a light sourcesuch as a backlight efficiently, so that power consumption of thedisplay device can be reduced.

Next, FIG. 20 shows a cross section taken along dashed-dotted line C-Din FIG. 19. Note that a cross section A-B in FIG. 20 is across-sectional view of a driver circuit portion (a top view thereof isomitted) including the scan line driver circuit 104 and the signal linedriver circuit 106. In this embodiment, a liquid crystal display deviceof a vertical electric field mode is described.

In the liquid crystal display device described in this embodiment, aliquid crystal element 322 is provided between a pair of substrates (asubstrate 302 and a substrate 342).

The liquid crystal element 322 includes the light-transmittingconductive film 316 b over the substrate 302, films controllingalignment (hereinafter referred to as alignment films 318 and 352), aliquid crystal layer 320, and a conductive film 350.

Note that the light-transmitting conductive film 316 b functions as oneelectrode of the liquid crystal element 322, and the conductive film 350functions as the other electrode of the liquid crystal element 322.

Thus, a “liquid crystal display device” refers to a device including aliquid crystal element. Note that the liquid crystal display deviceincludes a driver circuit for driving a plurality of pixels and thelike. The liquid crystal display device may also be referred to as aliquid crystal module including a control circuit, a power supplycircuit, a signal generation circuit, a backlight module, and the likeprovided over another substrate.

In the driver circuit portion, the transistor 102 includes theconductive film 304 a serving as a gate electrode, insulating films 305and 306 a collectively serving as a gate insulating film, the multilayerfilm 308 a in which a channel region is formed, and the conductive films310 a and 310 b serving as a source electrode and a drain electrode.

The multilayer film 308 a is provided over the gate insulating film.Protective films 332 a and 332 b are provided over the conductive films310 a and 310 b. Insulating films 312 and 314 are provided as protectivefilms over the protective films 332 a and 332 b. In the case where theprotective films 332 a and 332 b are formed using a light-transmittingconductive film, the protective films 332 a and 332 b serve as thesource electrode and the drain electrode in the transistor 102.

In the pixel portion, the transistor 103 includes the conductive film304 c functioning as a gate electrode, the insulating films 305 and 306b collectively functioning as a gate insulating film, the multilayerfilm 308 b in which a channel region is formed, and the conductive films310 d and 310 e functioning as a source electrode and a drain electrode.Further, protective films 332 d and 332 e are provided over theconductive films 310 d and 310 e. The insulating films 312 and 314 areprovided as protective films over the protective films 332 d and 332 e.In the case where the protective films 332 d and 332 e are formed usinga light-transmitting conductive film, the protective films 332 d and 332e serve as the source electrode and the drain electrode in thetransistor 103.

The light-transmitting conductive film 316 b functioning as a pixelelectrode is connected to the conductive film 310 e through an openingprovided in the protective film 332 e and the insulating films 312 and314.

Further, the capacitor 105 includes the film 308 c having conductivityfunctioning as one electrode of the capacitor 105, the insulating film314 functioning as a dielectric film, and the light-transmittingconductive film 316 b functioning as the other electrode of thecapacitor 105. The film 308 c having conductivity is provided over aninsulating film 306 c.

In the driver circuit portion, the conductive film 304 b formed at thesame time as the conductive films 304 a and 304 c and the conductivefilm 310 c formed at the same time as the conductive films 310 a, 310 b,310 d, and 310 e are connected to each other via the light-transmittingconductive film 316 a formed at the same time as the light-transmittingconductive film 316 b.

The conductive film 304 b and the light-transmitting conductive film 316a are connected to each other through an opening provided in theinsulating film 305 and the insulating films 312 and 314. Further, theconductive film 310 c and the light-transmitting conductive film 316 aare connected to each other through an opening provided in theprotective film 332 c and the insulating films 312 and 314.

Here, components of the display device shown in FIG. 20 are describedbelow.

The conductive films 304 a, 304 b, and 304 c are formed over thesubstrate 302. The conductive film 304 a functions as a gate electrodeof the transistor in the driver circuit portion. The conductive film 304c is formed in the pixel portion 101 and functions as a gate electrodeof the transistor in the pixel portion. The conductive film 304 b isformed in the scan line driver circuit 104 and connected to theconductive film 310 c.

The substrate 302 can be formed using the material of the substrate 11which is given in Embodiment 1, as appropriate.

The conductive films 304 a, 304 b, and 304 c can be formed using thematerial and the formation method of the gate electrode 15 which aredescribed in Embodiment 1, as appropriate.

The insulating film 305 is formed over the substrate 302 and theconductive films 304 a, 304 c, and 304 b, and the insulating films 306a, 306 b, and 306 c are formed over the insulating film 305. Theinsulating films 305, 306 a, and 306 b function as a gate insulatingfilm of the transistor in the driver circuit portion and a gateinsulating film of the transistor in the pixel portion 101.

The insulating film 305 is formed using the nitride insulating film 17a, which is described as the gate insulating film 17 in Embodiment 1.The insulating films 306 a, 306 b, and 306 c are formed using the oxideinsulating film 17 c, which is described as the gate insulating film 17in Embodiment 1.

Over the insulating films 306 a, 306 b, and 306 c, the multilayer films308 a and 308 b and the film 308 c having conductivity are formed. Themultilayer film 308 a is formed in a position overlapping with theconductive film 304 a and functions as a channel region of thetransistor in the driver circuit portion. The multilayer film 308 b isformed in a position overlapping with the conductive film 304 c andfunctions as a channel region of the transistor in the pixel portion.The film 308 c having conductivity functions as one electrode of thecapacitor 105.

The multilayer films 308 a and 308 b and the film 308 c havingconductivity can be formed using the material and the formation methodof the multilayer film 20 which are described in Embodiment 1, asappropriate.

The film 308 c having conductivity is a multilayer film similar to themultilayer films 308 a and 308 b and contains impurities. An example ofthe impurities is hydrogen. Instead of hydrogen, as the impurity, boron,phosphorus, tin, antimony, a rare gas element, alkali metal, alkalineearth metal, or the like may be included.

The multilayer films 308 a and 308 b and the film 308 c havingconductivity are formed over the insulating films 306 a, 306 b, and 306c, respectively, but differ in impurity concentration. Specifically, thefilm 308 c having conductivity has a higher impurity concentration thanthe multilayer films 308 a and 308 b. For example, the concentration ofhydrogen contained in each of the multilayer films 308 a and 308 b islower than or equal to 5×10¹⁹ atoms/cm³, lower than or equal to 5×10¹⁸atoms/cm³, lower than or equal to 1×10¹⁸ atoms/cm³, lower than or equalto 5×10¹⁷ atoms/cm³, or lower than or equal to 1×10¹⁶ atoms/cm³. Theconcentration of hydrogen contained in the film 308 c havingconductivity is higher than or equal to 8×10¹⁹ atoms/cm³, higher than orequal to 1×10²⁰ atoms/cm³, or higher than or equal to 5×10²⁰ atoms/cm³.The concentration of hydrogen contained in the film 308 c havingconductivity is greater than or equal to 2 times or greater than orequal to 10 times those in the multilayer films 308 a and 308 b.

The film 308 c having conductivity has lower resistivity than themultilayer films 308 a and 308 b. The resistivity of the film 308 chaving conductivity is preferably greater than or equal to 1×10⁻⁸ timesand less than or equal to 1×10⁻¹ times the resistivity of the multilayerfilms 308 a and 308 b. The resistivity of the film 308 c havingconductivity is typically greater than or equal to 1×10⁻³ Ωcm and lessthan 1×10⁴ Ωcm, preferably greater than or equal to 1×10⁻³ Ωcm and lessthan 1×10⁻¹ Ωcm.

The multilayer films 308 a and 308 b are in contact with the films eachformed using a material which can improve characteristics of theinterface with the multilayer film, such as the insulating films 306 aand 306 b and the insulating film 312. Thus, the multilayer films 308 aand 308 b function as semiconductors, so that the transistors includingthe multilayer films 308 a and 308 b have excellent electricalcharacteristics.

The film 308 c having conductivity is in contact with the insulatingfilm 314 in the opening 362 (see FIG. 23C). The insulating film 314 isformed using a material which prevents diffusion of impurities from theoutside, such as water, alkali metal, and alkaline earth metal, into themultilayer film, and the material further includes hydrogen. Thus, whenhydrogen in the insulating film 314 is diffused into the multilayer filmformed at the same time as the multilayer films 308 a and 308 b,hydrogen is bonded to oxygen and electrons serving as carriers aregenerated in the oxide semiconductor film included in the multilayerfilm. Further, when the insulating film 314 is formed by a plasma CVDmethod or a sputtering method, the multilayer films 308 a and 308 b areexposed to plasma, so that oxygen vacancies are generated. When hydrogencontained in the insulating film 314 enters the oxygen vacancies,electrons serving as carriers are generated. As a result, the oxidesemiconductor film included in the multilayer film has higherconductivity and functions as a conductor; in other words, the oxidesemiconductor film can be an oxide semiconductor film with highconductivity. Here, a metal oxide which contains a material similar tothose of the multilayer films 308 a and 308 b as a main component andhas higher conductivity because hydrogen concentration of the metaloxide is higher than those of the multilayer films 308 a and 308 b isreferred to as the “film 308 c having conductivity”.

Note that one embodiment of the present invention is not limitedthereto, and it is possible that the film 308 c having conductivity isnot in contact with the insulating film 314 depending on circumstances.

Further, one embodiment of the present invention is not limited thereto,and the film 308 c having conductivity may be formed by a differentprocess from that of the multilayer film 308 a or the multilayer film308 b depending on circumstances. In that case, the film 308 c havingconductivity may include a different material from that of themultilayer film 308 a or the multilayer film 308 b. For example, thefilm 308 c having conductivity may include indium tin oxide (hereinafterreferred to as ITO), indium zinc oxide, or the like.

In the semiconductor device illustrated in this embodiment, oneelectrode of the capacitor is formed at the same time as the multilayerfilm of the transistor. In addition, the light-transmitting conductivefilm that serves as a pixel electrode is used as the other electrode ofthe capacitor. Thus, a step of forming another conductive film is notneeded to form the capacitor, and the number of steps of manufacturingthe semiconductor device can be reduced. Further, since the capacitorhas a pair of electrodes formed with the light-transmitting conductivefilm, it can have a light-transmitting property. As a result, the areaoccupied by the capacitor can be increased and the aperture ratio in apixel can be increased.

The protective films 332 a, 332 b, 332 c, 332 d, and 332 e can be formedusing the material and the formation method of the protective films 43and 44, which are described in Embodiment 2, as appropriate.

The conductive films 310 a, 310 b, 310 c, 310 d, and 310 e can be formedusing the material and the formation method of the pair of electrodes 21and 22, which are described in Embodiment 1, as appropriate.

Over the insulating films 306 a, 306 b, and 306 c, the multilayer films308 a and 308 b, the film 308 c having conductivity, the protectivefilms 332 a, 332 b, 332 c, 332 d, and 332 e, and the conductive films310 a, 310 b, 310 c, 310 d, and 310 e, the insulating film 312 and theinsulating film 314 are formed. For the insulating film 312, in a mannersimilar to that of the insulating film 306, a material which can improvecharacteristics of the interface with the multilayer film is preferablyused. The insulating film 312 can be formed using a material and aformation method which are similar to those of the oxide insulating film24 which are described in Embodiment 1, as appropriate. Further, asdescribed in Embodiment 1, the oxide insulating film 23 and the oxideinsulating film 24 may be stacked.

For the insulating film 314, a material which prevents diffusion ofimpurities from the outside, such as water, alkali metal, and alkalineearth metal, into the multilayer film is preferably used. The insulatingfilm 314 can be formed using the material and the formation method ofthe nitride insulating film 25 which are described in Embodiment 1, asappropriate.

Further, the light-transmitting conductive films 316 a and 316 b areprovided over the insulating film 314. The light-transmitting conductivefilm 316 a is electrically connected to the conductive film 304 bthrough the opening 364 a (see FIG. 24B) and electrically connected tothe conductive film 310 c through the opening 364 b (see FIG. 24B). Thatis, the light-transmitting conductive film 316 a functions as aconnection electrode which connects the conductive film 304 b and theconductive film 310 c. The light-transmitting conductive film 316 b iselectrically connected to the conductive film 310 e through the opening364 c (see FIG. 24B) and functions as the pixel electrode of a pixel.Further, the light-transmitting conductive film 316 b can function asthe other of the pair of electrodes of the capacitor.

In order to form a connection structure in which the conductive film 304b is in direct contact with the conductive film 310 c, it is necessaryto perform patterning for forming an opening in the insulating film 305and to form a mask before the conductive film 310 c is formed. When theconductive film 304 b is connected to the conductive film 310 c with thelight-transmitting conductive film 316 a as shown in FIG. 20, it is notnecessary to form a connection portion where the conductive film 304 bis in direct contact with the conductive film 310 c. Thus, the number ofphotomasks can be reduced by one. That is, steps of forming asemiconductor device can be reduced.

For the light-transmitting conductive films 316 a and 316 b, alight-transmitting conductive material such as indium oxide includingtungsten oxide, indium zinc oxide including tungsten oxide, indium oxideincluding titanium oxide, indium tin oxide including titanium oxide,ITO, indium zinc oxide, or indium tin oxide to which silicon oxide isadded can be used.

A film having a colored property (hereinafter referred to as a coloredfilm 346) is formed on the substrate 342. The colored film 346 functionsas a color filter. Further, a light-blocking film 344 adjacent to thecolored film 346 is formed on the substrate 342. The light-blocking film344 functions as a black matrix. The colored film 346 is not necessarilyprovided in the case where the display device is a monochrome displaydevice, for example.

The colored film 346 is a colored film that transmits light in aspecific wavelength range. For example, a red (R) color filter fortransmitting light in a red wavelength range, a green (G) color filterfor transmitting light in a green wavelength range, a blue (B) colorfilter for transmitting light in a blue wavelength range, or the likecan be used.

The light-blocking film 344 preferably has a function of blocking lightin a particular wavelength region, and can be a metal film or an organicinsulating film including a black pigment.

An insulating film 348 is formed on the colored film 346. The insulatingfilm 348 functions as a planarization layer or suppresses diffusion ofimpurities in the colored film 346 to the liquid crystal element side.

The conductive film 350 is formed on the insulating film 348. Theconductive film 350 functions as the other of the pair of electrodes ofthe liquid crystal element in the pixel portion. Note that an insulatingfilm that functions as an alignment film may be additionally formed onthe light-transmitting conductive films 316 a and 316 b and theconductive film 350.

The liquid crystal layer 320 is formed between the light-transmittingconductive film 316 a and the conductive film 350, and thelight-transmitting conductive film 316 b and the conductive film 350.The liquid crystal layer 320 is sealed between the substrate 302 and thesubstrate 342 with the use of a sealant (not illustrated). The sealantis preferably in contact with an inorganic material to prevent entry ofmoisture and the like from the outside.

A spacer may be provided between the light-transmitting conductive film316 a and the conductive film 350, and the light-transmitting conductivefilm 316 b and the conductive film 350 to maintain the thickness of theliquid crystal layer 320 (also referred to as a cell gap).

A formation method of the element portion over the substrate 302 in thesemiconductor device illustrated in FIG. 20 is described with referenceto FIGS. 21A to 21C, FIGS. 22A to 22C, FIGS. 23A to 23C, FIGS. 24A and24B, and FIGS. 25A and 25B.

First, the substrate 302 is prepared. Here, a glass substrate is used asthe substrate 302.

Then, a conductive film is formed over the substrate 302 and processedinto desired regions, so that the conductive films 304 a, 304 b, and 304c are formed. The conductive films 304 a, 304 b, and 304 c can be formedin such a manner that a mask is formed in the desired regions by firstpatterning and regions not covered with the mask are etched (see FIG.21A).

The conductive films 304 a, 304 b, and 304 c can be typically formed byan evaporation method, a CVD method, a sputtering method, a spin coatingmethod, or the like.

Next, the insulating film 305 is formed over the substrate 302 and theconductive films 304 a, 304 b, and 304 c, and then the insulating film306 is formed over the insulating film 305 (see FIG. 21A).

The insulating films 305 and 306 can be formed by a sputtering method, aCVD method, or the like. Note that it is preferable that the insulatingfilms 305 and 306 be formed in succession in a vacuum, in which caseentry of impurities is suppressed.

Next, a multilayer film 307 is formed over the insulating film 306 (seeFIG. 21B).

The multilayer film 307 can be formed by a sputtering method, a coatingmethod, a pulsed laser deposition method, a laser ablation method, orthe like.

Next, the multilayer film 307 is processed into desired regions, so thatthe island-shaped multilayer films 308 a, 308 b, and 308 d are formed.The oxide semiconductor films 308 a, 308 b, and 308 d can be formed insuch a manner that a mask is formed in the desired regions by secondpatterning and regions not covered with the mask are etched. For theetching, dry etching, wet etching, or a combination of both can beemployed (see FIG. 21C).

Then, the insulating film 306 is processed into desired regions to formthe island-shaped insulating films 306 a, 306 b, and 306 c. Theinsulating films 306 a, 306 b, and 306 c can be formed by etchingregions not covered with the multilayer films 308 a, 308 b, and 308 d inthe insulating film 306. For the etching, dry etching, wet etching, or acombination of both can be employed (see FIG. 22A).

Next, first heat treatment is performed. The first heat treatment isperformed under the conditions similar to those of the first heattreatment in Embodiment 1. By the first heat treatment, thecrystallinity of the oxide semiconductor that is used for the multilayerfilms 308 a, 308 b, and 308 d can be improved, and in addition,impurities such as hydrogen and water can be removed from the insulatingfilm 305, the insulating films 306 a, 306 b, and 306 c, and themultilayer films 308 a, 308 b, and 308 d. The first heat treatment maybe performed before the oxide semiconductor is etched.

Next, a conductive film 309 and a protective film 330 are formed overthe insulating films 306 a, 306 b, and 306 c and the multilayer films308 a, 308 b, and 308 d (see FIG. 22B).

The conductive film 309 can be formed by a sputtering method, anevaporation method, a CVD method, or a printing method, for example.

The protective film 330 can be formed by a sputtering method or a CVDmethod, for example.

Then, the protective film 330 is processed into desired regions, so thatthe protective films 332 a, 332 b, 332 c, 332 d, and 332 e are formed.The protective films 332 a, 332 b, 332 c, 332 d, and 332 e can be formedin such a manner that a mask is formed in the desired regions by thirdpatterning and regions not covered with the mask are etched. After that,the mask is removed (see FIG. 22C).

Then, the conductive film 309 is processed into desired regions, so thatthe conductive films 310 a, 310 b, 310 c, 310 d, and 310 e are formed.The conductive films 310 a, 310 b, 310 c, 310 d, and 310 e can be formedin such a manner that the protective films 332 a, 332 b, 332 c, 332 d,and 332 e serve as masks, and regions not covered with the masks areetched (see FIG. 23A).

Next, an insulating film 311 is formed to cover the insulating films 306a, 306 b, and 306 c, the multilayer films 308 a, 308 b, and 308 d, theconductive films 310 a, 310 b, 310 c, 310 d, and 310 e, and theprotective films 332 a, 332 b, 332 c, 332 d, and 332 e (see FIG. 23B).

The insulating film 311 can be formed with a stacked-layer structureunder conditions similar to those for the oxide insulating film 23 andthe oxide insulating film 24 in Embodiment 1.

Next, the insulating film 311 is processed into desired regions so thatthe insulating film 312 and the opening 362 are formed. The insulatingfilm 312 and the opening 362 can be formed in such a manner that a maskis formed in the desired regions by fourth patterning and regions notcovered with the mask are etched (see FIG. 23C).

The opening 362 is formed so as to expose the surface of the multilayerfilm 308 d. An example of a formation method of the opening 362includes, but not limited to, a dry etching method. Alternatively, a wetetching method or a combination of dry etching and wet etching can beemployed for formation of the opening 362.

After that, the second heat treatment is performed to transfer part ofoxygen in the insulating film 312 to the oxide semiconductor filmsincluded in the multilayer films 308 a and 308 b and reduce the amountof oxygen vacancies included in the oxide semiconductor films includedin the multilayer films 308 a and 308 b.

Next, an insulating film 313 is formed over the insulating film 312 andthe multilayer film 308 d (see FIG. 24A).

The insulating film 313 is preferably formed using a material that canprevent an external impurity such as oxygen, hydrogen, water, alkalimetal, or alkaline earth metal, from diffusing into the multilayer film,more preferably formed using the material including hydrogen, andtypically an inorganic insulating material containing nitrogen, such asa nitride insulating film, can be used. The insulating film 313 can beformed by a CVD method, for example.

The insulating film 313 is formed using a material which preventsdiffusion of impurities from the outside, such as water, an alkalimetal, and an alkaline earth metal, into the multilayer film, and thematerial further includes hydrogen. Thus, when hydrogen in theinsulating film 313 is diffused into the multilayer film 308 d, hydrogenis bonded to oxygen and electrons serving as carriers are generated inthe oxide semiconductor film in the multilayer film 308 d. As a result,the conductivity of the oxide semiconductor film in the multilayer film308 d is increased, so that the multilayer film 308 d becomes the film308 c having conductivity.

The insulating film 313 is preferably formed at a high temperature tohave an improved blocking property; for example, the insulating film 313is preferably formed at a temperature in the range from the substratetemperature of 100° C. to the strain point of the substrate, or at atemperature in the range from 300° C. to 400° C. When the insulatingfilm 313 is formed at a high temperature, a phenomenon in which oxygenis released from the oxide semiconductor used for the multilayer films308 a and 308 b and the carrier density is increased is caused in somecases; therefore, the upper limit of the temperature is a temperature atwhich the phenomenon is not caused.

Then, the insulating films 305, 312, and 313 and the protective films332 c and 332 e are processed into desired regions so that theinsulating film 314 and the openings 364 a, 364 b, and 364 c are formed.The insulating film 314 and the openings 364 a, 364 b, and 364 c can beformed in such a manner that a mask is formed in the desired regions byfifth patterning and regions not covered by the mask are etched (seeFIG. 24B). In the case where the protective films 332 c and 332 e areformed using a light-transmitting conductive film, the protective films332 c and 332 e are not necessarily etched in this step.

The opening 364 a is formed so as to expose a surface of the conductivefilm 304 b. The opening 364 b is formed so as to expose the conductivefilm 310 c. The opening 364 c is formed so as to expose the conductivefilm 310 e.

An example of a formation method of the openings 364 a, 364 b, and 364 cincludes, but not limited to, a dry etching method. Alternatively, a wetetching method or a combination of dry etching and wet etching can beemployed for formation of the openings 364 a, 364 b, and 364 c.

Then, a conductive film 315 is formed over the insulating film 314 so asto cover the openings 364 a, 364 b, and 364 c (see FIG. 25A).

The conductive film 315 can be formed by a sputtering method, forexample.

Then, the conductive film 315 is processed into desired regions so thatthe light-transmitting conductive films 316 a and 316 b are formed. Thelight-transmitting conductive films 316 a and 316 b can be formed insuch a manner that a mask is formed in the desired regions by sixthpatterning and regions not covered with the mask are etched (see FIG.25B).

Through the above process, the pixel portion and the driver circuitportion that include transistors can be formed over the substrate 302.In the manufacturing process described in this embodiment, thetransistors and the capacitor can be formed at the same time by thefirst to sixth patterning, that is, with the six masks.

In this embodiment, the conductivity of the oxide semiconductor film inthe multilayer film 308 d is increased by diffusing hydrogen containedin the insulating film 313 into the multilayer film 308 d; however, theconductivity of the oxide semiconductor film in the multilayer film 308d may be increased by covering the multilayer films 308 a and 308 b witha mask and adding impurities, typically, hydrogen, boron, phosphorus,tin, antimony, a rare gas element, alkali metal, alkaline earth metal,or the like to the multilayer film 308 d. Hydrogen, boron, phosphorus,tin, antimony, a rare gas element, or the like is added to themultilayer film 308 d by an ion doping method, an ion implantationmethod, or the like. Further, alkali metal, alkaline earth metal, or thelike may be added to the multilayer film 308 d by a method in which themultilayer film 308 d is exposed to a solution that contains theimpurity.

Next, a structure that is formed over the substrate 342 provided so asto face the substrate 302 is described below.

First, the substrate 342 is prepared. For materials of the substrate342, the materials that can be used for the substrate 302 can bereferred to. Then, the light-blocking film 344 and the colored film 346are formed over the substrate 342 (see FIG. 26A).

The light-blocking film 344 and the colored film 346 each are formed ina desired position with any of various materials by a printing method,an inkjet method, an etching method using a photolithography technique,or the like.

Then, the insulating film 348 is formed over the light-blocking film 344and the colored film 346 (see FIG. 26B).

For the insulating film 348, an organic insulating film of an acrylicresin, an epoxy resin, polyimide, or the like can be used. With theinsulating film 348, an impurity or the like contained in the coloredfilm 346 can be prevented from diffusing into the liquid crystal layer320, for example. Note that the insulating film 348 is not necessarilyformed.

Then, the conductive film 350 is formed over the insulating film 348(see FIG. 26C). As the conductive film 350, a material that can be usedfor the conductive film 315 can be used.

Through the above process, the structure formed over the substrate 342can be formed.

Next, the alignment film 318 and the alignment film 352 are formed overthe substrate 302 and the substrate 342 respectively, specifically, overthe insulating film 314 and the light-transmitting conductive films 316a and 316 b formed over the substrate 302 and over the conductive film350 formed over the substrate 342. The alignment films 318 and 352 canbe formed by a rubbing method, an optical alignment method, or the like.After that, the liquid crystal layer 320 is formed between the substrate302 and the substrate 342. The liquid crystal layer 320 can be formed bya dispenser method (a dropping method), or an injecting method by whicha liquid crystal is injected using a capillary phenomenon after thesubstrate 302 and the substrate 342 are bonded to each other.

Through the above process, the display device illustrated in FIG. 20 canbe fabricated.

This embodiment can be combined with another embodiment in thisspecification as appropriate.

Embodiment 4

In this embodiment, one embodiment which can be applied to the oxidesemiconductor film in any of the transistors included in thesemiconductor device described in the above embodiment is described.

The oxide semiconductor film may include one or more of the following:an oxide semiconductor having a single-crystal structure (hereinafterreferred to as a single-crystal oxide semiconductor); an oxidesemiconductor having a polycrystalline structure (hereinafter referredto as a polycrystalline oxide semiconductor); an oxide semiconductorhaving a microcrystalline structure (hereinafter referred to as amicrocrystalline oxide semiconductor), and an oxide semiconductor havingan amorphous structure (hereinafter referred to as an amorphous oxidesemiconductor). Further, the oxide semiconductor film may include aCAAC-OS. Furthermore, the oxide semiconductor film may include anamorphous oxide semiconductor and an oxide semiconductor having acrystal grain. Described below are the single-crystal oxidesemiconductor, the polycrystalline oxide semiconductor, and themicrocrystalline oxide semiconductor.

<Single-Crystal Oxide Semiconductor>

The single-crystal oxide semiconductor film has a lower impurityconcentration and a lower density of defect states (few number of oxygenvacancies). Thus, the carrier density can be decreased. Accordingly, atransistor including the single-crystal oxide semiconductor film isunlikely to be normally on. Moreover, since the single-crystal oxidesemiconductor film has a lower impurity concentration and a lowerdensity of defect states, carrier traps might be reduced. Thus, thetransistor including the single-crystal oxide semiconductor film hassmall variation in electrical characteristics and accordingly has highreliability.

Note that when the oxide semiconductor film has few defects, the densitythereof is increased. When the oxide semiconductor film has highcrystallinity, the density thereof is increased. When the oxidesemiconductor film has a lower concentration of impurities such ashydrogen, the density thereof is increased. The single-crystal oxidesemiconductor film has higher density than the CAAC-OS film in somecases. The CAAC-OS film has higher density than the microcrystallineoxide semiconductor film in some cases. The polycrystalline oxidesemiconductor film has higher density than the microcrystalline oxidesemiconductor film in some cases. The microcrystalline oxidesemiconductor film has higher density than the amorphous oxidesemiconductor film in some cases.

<Polycrystalline Oxide Semiconductor>

In an image obtained with a TEM, crystal grains can be found in thepolycrystalline oxide semiconductor film in some cases. In most cases,the size of a crystal grain in the polycrystalline oxide semiconductorfilm is greater than or equal to 2 nm and less than or equal to 300 nm,greater than or equal to 3 nm and less than or equal to 100 nm, orgreater than or equal to 5 nm and less than or equal to 50 nm in animage obtained with the TEM, for example. Moreover, in the TEM image, agrain boundary can be found in the polycrystalline oxide semiconductorfilm in some cases.

The polycrystalline oxide semiconductor film may include a plurality ofcrystal grains, and alignment of crystals may be different in theplurality of crystal grains. When the polycrystalline oxidesemiconductor film is analyzed by, for example, an out-of-plane methodwith an XRD apparatus, one or plural peaks appear in some cases. Forexample, in the case of a polycrystalline IGZO film, a peak at 2θ ofaround 31° which shows alignment or plural peaks which show plural kindsof alignment appear in some cases.

The polycrystalline oxide semiconductor film has high crystallinity andthus has high electron mobility in some cases. Accordingly, a transistorincluding the polycrystalline oxide semiconductor film has highfield-effect mobility. Note that there are cases in which an impurity issegregated at the grain boundary between the crystals in thepolycrystalline oxide semiconductor film. Moreover, the grain boundaryof the polycrystalline oxide semiconductor film becomes a defect state.Since the grain boundary of the polycrystalline oxide semiconductor filmmay serve as a carrier trap or a carrier generation source, a transistorusing the polycrystalline oxide semiconductor film has larger variationin electrical characteristics and lower reliability than a transistorusing a CAAC-OS film in some cases.

<Microcrystalline Oxide Semiconductor>

In an image obtained with the TEM, crystal parts cannot be found clearlyin the microcrystalline oxide semiconductor in some cases. In mostcases, the size of a crystal part in a microcrystalline oxidesemiconductor film is greater than or equal to 1 nm and less than orequal to 100 nm, or greater than or equal to 1 nm and less than or equalto 10 nm. A microcrystal with a size greater than or equal to 1 nm andless than or equal to 10 nm, or a size greater than or equal to 1 nm andless than or equal to 3 nm is specifically referred to as nanocrystal(nc). An oxide semiconductor film including nanocrystal is referred toas an nc-OS (nanocrystalline oxide semiconductor) film. In an imageobtained with TEM, a grain boundary cannot be found clearly in the nc-OSfilm in some cases.

In the nc-OS film, a microscopic region (for example, a region with asize greater than or equal to 1 nm and less than or equal to 10 nm, inparticular, a region with a size greater than or equal to 1 nm and lessthan or equal to 3 nm) has a periodic atomic order. Further, there is noregularity of crystal orientation between different crystal parts in thenc-OS film; thus, the orientation of the whole film is not observed.Accordingly, in some cases, the nc-OS film cannot be distinguished froman amorphous oxide semiconductor film depending on an analysis method.For example, when the nc-OS film is subjected to structural analysis byan out-of-plane method with an XRD apparatus using an X-ray having adiameter larger than the diameter of a crystal part, a peak which showsa crystal plane does not appear. Further, a halo pattern is shown in aselected-area electron diffraction pattern of the nc-OS film obtained byusing an electron beam having a diameter larger than the diameter of acrystal part (e.g., larger than or equal to 50 nm). Meanwhile, spots areshown in a nanobeam electron diffraction pattern of the nc-OS filmobtained by using an electron beam having a diameter (e.g., larger thanor equal to 1 nm and smaller than or equal to 30 nm) close to, orsmaller than or equal to that of a crystal part. Further, in a nanobeamelectron diffraction pattern of the nc-OS film, regions with highluminance in a circular (ring) pattern are shown in some cases. Also ina nanobeam electron diffraction pattern of the nc-OS film, a pluralityof spots are shown in a ring-like region in some cases.

FIG. 27 shows an example of nanobeam electron diffraction performed on asample including an nc-OS film. The measurement position is changed.Here, the sample is cut in the direction perpendicular to a surfacewhere an nc-OS film is formed and the thickness thereof is reduced to beless than or equal to 10 nm. Further, an electron beam with a diameterof 1 nm enters from the direction perpendicular to the cut surface ofthe sample. FIG. 27 shows that, when a nanobeam electron diffraction isperformed on the sample including the nc-OS film, a diffraction patternexhibiting a crystal plane is obtained, but orientation along a crystalplane in a particular direction is not observed.

Since the nc-OS film is an oxide semiconductor film having moreregularity than the amorphous oxide semiconductor film, the nc-OS filmhas a lower density of defect states than the amorphous oxidesemiconductor film. However, there is no regularity of crystalorientation between different crystal parts in the nc-OS film; hence,the nc-OS film has a higher density of defect states than the CAAC-OSfilm.

Thus, the nc-OS film has a higher carrier density than the CAAC-OS filmin some cases. The oxide semiconductor film having a high carrierdensity has high electron mobility in some cases. Thus, a transistorincluding the nc-OS film has high field-effect mobility in some cases.The nc-OS film has a higher defect state density than the CAAC-OS film,and thus has a lot of carrier traps in some cases. Consequently, atransistor including the nc-OS film has larger variation in electriccharacteristics and lower reliability than a transistor including theCAAC-OS film.

The nc-OS film can be formed easily as compared to the CAAC-OS filmbecause the nc-OS film can be formed even when a relatively large amountof impurities are included; thus, depending on the purpose, the nc-OSfilm can be favorably used in some cases. Therefore, a semiconductordevice including the transistor including the nc-OS film can bemanufactured with high productivity in some cases.

Embodiment 5

Although the oxide semiconductor film described in the above embodimentcan be formed by sputtering, such a film may be formed by anothermethod, e.g., a thermal CVD method. A metal organic chemical vapordeposition (MOCVD) method or an atomic layer deposition (ALD) method maybe employed as an example of a thermal CVD method.

A thermal CVD method has an advantage that no defect due to plasmadamage is generated since it does not utilize plasma for forming a film.

Deposition by a thermal CVD method may be performed in such a mannerthat a source gas and an oxidizer are supplied to the chamber at a time,the pressure in a chamber is set to an atmospheric pressure or a reducedpressure, and reaction is caused in the vicinity of the substrate orover the substrate.

Deposition by an ALD method may be performed in such a manner that thepressure in a chamber is set to an atmospheric pressure or a reducedpressure, source gases for reaction are sequentially introduced into thechamber, and then the sequence of the gas introduction is repeated. Forexample, two or more kinds of source gases are sequentially supplied tothe chamber by switching respective switching valves (also referred toas high-speed valves). For example, a first source gas is introduced, aninert gas (e.g., argon or nitrogen) or the like is introduced at thesame time as or after the introduction of the first gas so that thesource gases are not mixed, and then a second source gas is introduced.Note that in the case where the first source gas and the inert gas areintroduced at a time, the inert gas serves as a carrier gas, and theinert gas may also be introduced at the same time as the introduction ofthe second source gas.

Alternatively, the first source gas may be exhausted by vacuumevacuation instead of the introduction of the inert gas, and then thesecond source gas may be introduced. The first source gas is adsorbed onthe surface of the substrate to form a first layer; then the secondsource gas is introduced to react with the first layer; as a result, asecond layer is stacked over the first layer, so that a thin film isformed. The sequence of the gas introduction is repeated plural timesuntil a desired thickness is obtained, whereby a thin film withexcellent step coverage can be formed. The thickness of the thin filmcan be adjusted by the number of repetition times of the sequence of thegas introduction; therefore, an ALD method makes it possible toaccurately adjust a thickness and thus is suitable for manufacturing aminute FET.

The variety of films such as the metal film, the oxide semiconductorfilm, and the inorganic insulating film which are described in the aboveembodiment can be formed by a thermal CVD method such as a MOCVD methodor an ALD method. For example, in the case where an In—Ga—Zn—O film isformed, trimethylindium, trimethylgallium, and dimethylzinc are used.Note that the chemical formula of trimethylindium is In(CH₃)₃. Thechemical formula of trimethylgallium is Ga(CH₃)₃. The chemical formulaof dimethylzinc is Zn(CH₃)₂. Without limitation to the abovecombination, triethylgallium (chemical formula: Ga(C₂H₅)₃) can be usedinstead of trimethylgallium and diethylzinc (chemical formula:Zn(C₂H₅)₂) can be used instead of dimethylzinc.

For example, in the case where an oxide semiconductor film, e.g., anIn—Ga—Zn—O film is formed using a deposition apparatus employing ALD, anIn(CH₃)₃ gas and an O₃ gas) are sequentially introduced plural times toform an In—O layer, a Ga(CH₃)₃ gas and an O₃ gas) are introduced at atime to form a GaO layer, and then a Zn(CH₃)₂ gas and an O₃ gas) areintroduced at a time to form a ZnO layer. Note that the order of theselayers is not limited to this example. A mixed compound layer such as anIn—Ga—O layer, an In—Zn—O layer, or a Ga—Zn—O layer may be formed bymixing of these gases. Note that although an H₂O gas which is obtainedby bubbling with an inert gas such as Ar may be used instead of an O₃gas), it is preferable to use an O₃ gas), which does not contain H.Further, instead of an In(CH₃)₃ gas, an In(C₂H₅)₃ gas may be used.Instead of a Ga(CH₃)₃ gas, a Ga(C₂H₅)₃ gas may be used. Instead of anIn(CH₃)₃ gas, an In(C₂H₅)₃ may be used. Furthermore, a Zn(CH₃)₂ gas maybe used.

Example 1

In this example, impurity analysis and XRD analysis of an oxidesemiconductor film are described with reference to FIGS. 28A and 28B,FIGS. 29A and 29B, FIGS. 30A and 30B, and FIGS. 31A and 31B.

In this example, four kinds of samples (hereinafter Sample A1 to SampleA4) were fabricated as samples for impurity analysis.

First, a fabrication method of Sample A1 is described below.

In Sample A1, a 100-nm-thick In—Ga—Zn oxide film (hereinafter referredto as an IGZO film) was formed over a glass substrate, a 60-nm-thickcopper film was formed over the IGZO film, and a 50-nm-thick siliconnitride film was formed over the copper film. After that, heat treatmentwas performed at 350° C. for one hour in a nitrogen atmosphere.

The IGZO film was formed by a sputtering method using a metal oxidetarget (In:Ga:Zn=1:1:1) under the following conditions: the flow ratioof the sputtering gas of Ar/O₂ was 1/1; the pressure was 0.6 Pa; the ACpower was 5000 W; and the substrate temperature was 170° C.

Next, a fabrication method of Sample A2 is described below.

Instead of the conditions for the IGZO film of Sample A1, a 100-nm-thickIGZO film was formed using a metal oxide target (In:Ga:Zn=1:3:4) underthe following conditions: the flow ratio of the sputtering gas of Ar/O₂was 2/1; the pressure was 0.4 Pa; the DC power was 200 W; and thesubstrate temperature was 200° C. This sample is referred to as SampleA2.

Next, a fabrication method of Sample A3 is described below.

Instead of the conditions for the IGZO film of Sample A1, a 100-nm-thickIGZO film was formed using a metal oxide target (In:Ga:Zn=1:3:6) underthe following conditions: the flow ratio of the sputtering gas of Ar/O₂was 2/1; the pressure was 0.4 Pa; the DC power was 200 W; and thesubstrate temperature was 200° C. This sample is referred to as SampleA3.

Next, a fabrication method of Sample A4 is described below.

Instead of the conditions for the IGZO film of Sample A1, a 100-nm-thickIGZO film was formed using a metal oxide target (In:Ga:Zn=1:6:8) underthe following conditions: the flow ratio of the sputtering gas of Ar/O₂was 2/1; the pressure was 0.4 Pa; the DC power was 200 W; and thesubstrate temperature was 200° C. This sample is referred to as SampleA4.

Results of the impurity analysis and results of the XRD analysis ofSamples A1 to A4 are shown in FIGS. 28A and 28B, FIGS. 29A and 29B,FIGS. 30A and 30B, and FIGS. 31A and 31B.

FIGS. 28A, 29A, 30A, and 31A show results of the impurity analysis andFIGS. 28B, 29B, 30B, and 31B show results of the XRD analysis. Note thatthe impurity analysis was performed by secondary ion mass spectrometry(SIMS) in the direction shown by the hollow arrow in each of FIGS. 28Aand 28B, FIGS. 29A and 29B, FIGS. 30A and 30B, and FIGS. 31A and 31B.That is, the measurement was performed from the glass substrate side.

In FIG. 28A, IGZO (1:1:1) represents an IGZO film formed using asputtering target containing In, Ga, and Zn at an atomic ratio of 1:1:1.In FIG. 29A, IGZO (1:3:4) represents an IGZO film formed using asputtering target containing In, Ga, and Zn at an atomic ratio of 1:3:4.In FIG. 30A, IGZO (1:3:6) represents an IGZO film formed using asputtering target containing In, Ga, and Zn at an atomic ratio of 1:3:6.In FIG. 31A, IGZO (1:6:8) represents an IGZO film formed using asputtering target containing In, Ga, and Zn at an atomic ratio of 1:6:8.Further, in FIGS. 28A, 29A, 30A, and 31A, a dashed line represents theinterface between the copper film and the IGZO film.

In a channel region of the transistor, the copper (Cu) concentrationwhich affects the electrical characteristics is higher than or equal to1×10¹⁸ atoms/cm³.

As shown in FIG. 28A, in Sample A1, a region where the copper (Cu)concentration is 1×10¹⁸ atoms/cm³ is a region apart from the interfacebetween the copper film and the IGZO film by 30 nm to the substrateside.

As shown in FIG. 29A, in Sample A2, a region where the copper (Cu)concentration is 1×10¹⁸ atoms/cm³ is a region apart from the interfacebetween the copper film and the IGZO film by 10 nm to the substrateside.

As shown in FIG. 30A, in Sample A3, a region where the copper (Cu)concentration is 1×10¹⁸ atoms/cm³ is a region apart from the interfacebetween the copper film and the IGZO film by 10 nm to the substrateside.

As shown in FIG. 31A, in Sample A4, a region where the copper (Cu)concentration is 1×10¹⁸ atoms/cm³ is a region apart from the interfacebetween the copper film and the IGZO film by 10 nm to the substrateside.

Based on the above, an IGZO film (1:3:4), an IGZO film (1:3:6), or anIGZO film (1:6:8) is formed over an IGZO film (1:1:1), and a copper filmis formed thereover, whereby diffusion of a copper element (Cu) from thecopper film into the IGZO film (1:1:1) can be prevented.

Further, as shown in FIGS. 28B, 29B, 30B, and 31B, in the IGZO filmincluded in each sample, a peak is observed at 28 at around 31°. Thepeak indicates the (009) plane. As described above, it is found that theIGZO film included in each sample is a c-axis aligned film. That is,each of the IGZO films included in Sample A1 to Sample A4 is a CAAC-OSfilm or a CAAC oxide film.

This application is based on Japanese Patent Application serial no.2013-084074 filed with Japan Patent Office on Apr. 12, 2013, the entirecontents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.

What is claimed is:
 1. A semiconductor device comprising: a firstinsulating film over a substrate; a second insulating film over thefirst insulating film; an oxide semiconductor film over and in contactwith the second insulating film; an oxide film over and in contact withthe oxide semiconductor film; and a pair of conductive films over and incontact with the oxide film, the pair of conductive films includingcopper, aluminum, gold, silver, or molybdenum, wherein the oxide filmincludes a plurality of crystal parts and has c-axis alignment in theplurality of crystal parts, wherein c-axes are aligned in a directionparallel to a normal vector of a top surface of the oxide semiconductorfilm or the oxide film, and wherein the pair of conductive films is incontact with a top surface of the first insulating film.